Reincarnate
by Not An Elf
Summary: [COMPLETE] Shadow is given another chance at life and is reborn...in the body of a girl? This oddity coupled with new feelings for a certain pink hedgehog makes things complicated, especially when Robotnik returns with a devastating weapon.
1. Reborn

**Edited October 2**

Rated for violence in later chapters, this story takes place immediately after the events in _Sonic Adventure 2_, and with the release of _Sonic Heros_ is AU. All characters belong to Sega.

**_Reincarnate  
Chapter 1: Reborn_**

_He has been falling a long way, for a long time. He can look up and still see the bright spot in the distance. Not the light at the end of the tunnel, per se, but the odd luminescence of ARK. He is sure he is not suspended in space, since the colony has gradually been growing smaller and smaller until it is nothing but a speck of light only marginally larger than the stars around it, but even so, he is falling very slowly. And he does not wish for his inevitable death to be prolonged much longer._

_Already he can feel the growing heat beneath him. It is a given fact that anything entering the Earth's atmosphere will burn up, or at least most of it. His super form can't handle so much pressure and heat; he can feel his power wavering. He looks up again at ARK. All the people he was beginning to regard as friends, or at least allies, are there, floating calmly above him. And he is here, dying in the abyss, in the heat of what must be the very fires of Hell._

_Does he deserve Hell? Maria won't be there. And yet he doesn't wish to live anywhere – Earth, __ARK__, wherever – because she is in another world, another life. He has hung on for over fifty years; he can't keep going without his dearest friend much longer. But all the destruction…is his one noble act at the end enough to see her again?_

_He feels his fur begin to singe, and closes his eyes one last time against the heat, shutting out his last view of the ones he had trusted. It hurts…the pain is terrible, but he does his best to focus his mind on one thing: Maria. _

It will be all right, because I can see Maria again…

_He can sense light around him, see it through his searing eyelids even as he loses consciousness. The darkness only lasts a minute, and then he's surrounded by light. The pain is gone, and when he opens his eyes he can see only mist, but he gets the feeling that beyond it is endless space, an endless world. _

This…is the afterlife? Am I in Heaven, Hell, or the space in between?

_'Shadow…'_

_Maria…it is Heaven. He casts around, searching for the source of her voice. _

_'Shadow, I'm here…'_

_The voice is near him. Very suddenly the mist melts away and he's in his old body again, standing in front of Maria under a tree full of blossoms, the petals of which fall and land in the water of the lake near them. He can't help but show this initial interest in his surroundings. But Maria soon has his full attention. She's just as he remembers her – a beautiful teenage girl with peaceful eyes. She kneels down and reaches out for him, and he embraces her. _

_And for a minute he's back on the __ARK__ fifty years ago, on the very day she died. Before GUN had come, they had been talking. And she had hugged him like this. And a few hours later, he was being sent to Earth unwillingly, trapped in a capsule, and Maria…he is brought back to reality, or whatever this is. _

_'Maria.'_

_'We thought…it would be easier this way,' she says, gesturing at their surroundings. 'If you saw me like this, as you last remembered me.'_

_'What…?'_

_'Shadow, I no longer have my body,' Maria says, smiling a little, 'I am pure spirit, you understand?'_

_As much as he loves to listen to Maria speak again, he has to admit to himself that this is hardly relevant. What does it matter, if it was Maria's soul that he had loved so dearly, what form she came to him in? He would recognize her anywhere, in any shape. On the __ARK__, she had been one with Amy for a mere minute, sending her true message just in time. _

_'So I thought it would be best if we could say our goodbyes this way.'_

_'Goodbyes?'_

_'You will be leaving soon.'_

_He stares at her. He just got here, and he's dead. What does she mean?_

_'I just arrived, Maria. Is this a middle place? Do I go on to the true afterlife from here?'_

_'No, that's not what I mean. This is not the right time, the right way. You will go back to Earth and find your true purpose. You'll live your life as it was meant to be lived.'_

_'But – '_

_'You have to.'_

_'But my body…'_

_'You will be given a new body; one that will suit your task, in its own way. You know about reincarnation, Shadow.'_

_'But I spent the last years of my life wanting to see _you_."'_

_'And you will again, soon. The first life is but a fleeting thing. You have to learn to live it to the fullest, in the best way, before you can return.'_

_'Maria…'_

_'I'll be with you, Shadow, in any way I can. You have done well – you saved Earth from a terrible fate. But you have been tortured for fifty years, and now you will see just how good Earth is before you leave it forever.'_

_The mist is returning, starting to block Maria from his view. He has the feeling that he's falling; he tries to reach out but finds he cannot move. He feels Maria's hand on his forehead, hears her whisper goodbye, for now, but he cannot speak. He can't see her anymore, and he's falling back into cold darkness._

-

Wind rustles the leaves in the trees of the Mystic Ruins, ripples the water in the small lake that is already disturbed slightly by the force of the thundering waterfall that pours into it. Beyond the lake and rock walls that border it, the trees in the vast jungle sway in unison around the hidden ruins. In the sky a bright spark catches the light briefly before dying away, continuing to fall into the heart of the jungle. This is seen only by one girl, Amy Rose, who is headed for Tails' workshop.

As much of a fangirl as ever, Amy had sought out Sonic immediately after coming home from the ARK. But he had left before she could catch up with him: completely disappeared when she let her guard down. Disappointed, but not deterred by any means, the adoring pink hedgehog had set out for the next possible place he might be other than lounging in Station Square: the Mystic Ruins. She has a suitcase with her – Tails is always glad to see her, being more tolerant of her attitude towards Sonic than the hero himself is (possibly because Tails, too, looks up to him in his own way) – just in case Sonic is there and she feels like staying for a while.

She doesn't give the spark much of a second thought. She's busy thinking about other things. As she walks, Amy studies her gloves with a sense of self-importance. During the adventure on the ARK, she had turned thirteen, even though all of them had been so distracted by the impending doom of Earth that even she had forgotten at first. But now…she really is no longer a child. And Sonic will have to notice soon, she's sure. She's not going to act like an adoring love-sick puppy anymore. She made this resolution last night, before getting on the train to come to check if he's with Tails. Sonic will never give her a chance if she acts like she has been for the past year or so, but if she shows him how mature she can be…well, who knows?

She does take a minute to gaze at the waterfall, a sight she's always found very romantic in its own way. She knows she can be hopelessly dramatic sometimes, but there's something about waterfalls that she loves. And in an area as pretty as this, it's even more stunning. She steps closer to the edge to get a better look at where it hits the lake below in a cloud of mist…and gasps.

Lying on her back in the grass by the lake, her hands folded on her chest and her light yellow fur dewy from the mist, is a girl hedgehog. Her eyes are closed and she's breathing slowly, peacefully, like she's only asleep. She is also – Amy can't help but notice – unclothed, which is definitely odd. But still, she should help the girl, Amy supposes. She hops down to the water's edge and heads over to the girl, who is still breathing slowly and deeply, very possibly unconscious.

She kneels down and prods the girl's shoulder carefully.

"Um…hello? Are you okay?"

The strange girl doesn't stir. Amy taps her with more force.

"Can you hear me?"

Still the girl does not respond. She doesn't stir when Amy shakes her, or even when the now worried hedgehog splashes her with the cold water from the lake. Finally Amy ceases her attempts to wake the strange girl up, deciding she should get Tails and bring her back to the fox's lab. He'll know how to revive the unconscious hedgehog. But first…Amy unzips her very neatly packed suitcase (she likes to keep her myriad belongings organized) and pulls out a towel. She spreads it out over the girl, covering her up, and stands.

"Don't go anywhere," she says as she zips her suitcase up again, feeling stupid afterwards, and starts to run in the direction of Tails' workshop, suitcase dangling wildly from one hand. Once she reaches her destination she knocks hurriedly on the door. It swings open and Tails looks out, looking pleased, if unsurprised, to see Amy there.

"Hi, Amy! Um, if you were looking for Sonic…"

"I wasn't. I mean, I was, but now there's something different."

She quickly explains how she found the unconscious girl by the lake, and Tails nods thoughtfully, twin tails swishing.

"I'll be right back; wait here," he says, turning around and shutting the door. A few minutes later the whine of engines is heard, and Amy looks up to see the Tornado as Tails' robot landing over head, hover boosters making the grass underneath them wave around in the strong wind. He lands and helps Amy climb up into the available space behind him, and they shoot off towards the waterfall.

Tails hovers a ways above the hedgehog, detaching a claw-like instrument from a compartment underneath them. He eases the claws around the girl, towel and all, and lifts her up, careful not to smash her against the bottom of the Tornado. He guides the Tornado back towards his lab, moving slowly and checking a screen often to make sure he hasn't dropped the girl. Upon landing Amy slides out of the machine and Tails lowers the claw, setting the girl back on the ground and then taking off again, Amy holding the girl's towel in place as the blast of air from the machine makes her squint.

A few minutes later Amy and Tails have successfully carried the girl inside together and she is under the covers of the bed in the spare room Tails often sets aside for Sonic. Amy is rummaging through her suitcase.

"What are you doing?" Tails asks her.

"She's got to have clothes, doesn't she? It's lucky I brought some extra outfits with me. Here – "

She pulls out a bright green dress and studies it critically.

"It isn't really my color after all; it's too light for my eyes," Amy says, and Tails barely conceals a sigh. He'll never understand girls.

A soft groan from the direction of the bed has them both glancing around, and to their surprise the girl is waking up. Her eyelashes tremble slightly before her eyes flick all the way open, and Amy glances at the dress, muttering, 'Perfect!' The girl's eyes, to her excitement, are almost exactly the same color as the lime-green dress. The girl is staring in confusion at the ceiling, and Amy says, "Welcome back. We were worried about you."

The girl turns her head slowly, as if it is a massive effort and murmurs, "Amy? Is that you…?"

"Huh? You know my name?"

But the girl is staring into space in confusion. She mutters something and lifts a hand to her throat, eyes suddenly fearful.

"What's wrong with my voice?"

"It sounds normal to me," Tails says, "Not raspy or anything like that."

The girl has lifted a hand in front of her face and is staring at it in utter confusion. She starts to sit up, and Amy darts to her side, jerking the covers up over her shoulders.

"Careful," she warns, and the girl gives her an odd look before glancing down at the covers, which are curving outward in an area that seems to confuse her.

"W-what's wrong with me?" the girl gasps, and clamps a hand over her mouth once again at the sound of her own voice. "I-I'm a…a…"

"There, there," Amy says reassuringly, though worried and bewildered by the girl's behavior. "Just tell us how you got here and we'll help you out. What's your name?"

"Amy, I'm Shadow!"

The pink hedgehog can only stare.


	2. New Skies

**Edited October 2**

All characters belong to Sega.

**_Reincarnate  
Chapter 2: New Skies_**

Shadow watches Amy anxiously, his now slender hands clenching and unclenching on the comforter. The normally exuberant hedgehog is dead silent and staring, her face working strangely.

"Say something!" Shadow says, disbelief at his new condition making his tone sharper than he means it to be.

Amy bursts out laughing.

"Eh?"

Shadow stares at her as she shakes with laughter, clutching her sides. Slowly his frustration mounts even as her hilarity diminishes, until she's only giggling in spurts, hiding her grin behind her hand. She lowers her hand and smiles apologetically at his annoyed expression.

"Sorry! When you said that, I just immediately thought of someone else I know…knew. It struck me as funny, that's all – you two couldn't look more different."

Oh, great. Well, he should have expected this.

"But you do know me: I'm Shadow."

Amy shakes her head, staring at him strangely. He stares back in renewed frustration.

"I am! I know all about ARK, and how Robotnik was going to use the threat of his cannon to take over. Sonic and I fought the Biolizard; all of us saved the world!"

Amy is looking at him like she thinks he's a little crazy.

"Um, yes…that was all on the news."

That figures. He racks his brain for something personal that only he – the real Shadow – would know about.

"Maria–" Amy cuts him off.

"Maria was mentioned too, and Gerald Robotnik, and the whole fiasco. Look, I don't know why you're trying to convince me you're Shadow…for one thing, Shadow was most definitely a guy, and he died soon after defeating the Biolizard. You'd know that, after all you've obviously seen on T.V." To Shadow's dismay, Amy looks faintly annoyed.

"Amy! I did die, and I spoke with Maria. She said I was given a second chance at life. How else would I have come here?"

Amy seems to think about this; she's frowning thoughtfully at least, but then her face closes off again and Shadow sighs.

"You were the one who convinced me to do my part, Amy. For a second, it was like Maria was speaking through you. I have a lot to thank you for."

That struck a chord in her, Shadow can tell. Apparently, _this_ hadn't been broadcasted. (Thank God.) Amy opens and closes her mouth a few times, her face slightly pale. Shadow watches patiently as she struggles with herself, and smiles when she finally says, "Shadow?" Across the room, Tails speaks for the first time.

"So you're…a reincarnation, huh?" Shadow nods.

"Do you know what you have to do, then?"

"What do you mean?"

"From what I know, someone is reincarnated when they have an uncompleted task. If you've come back, obviously there's something you were supposed to do that you haven't gotten around to yet. Any ideas?"

"No. Maria only said that I have to find my true purpose. Maria was always…cryptic."

He can't stop a faint smile at her memory, painful as it may be. Amy twists one of her bracelets around and around on her wrist, and he follows the movement with his eyes for a minute before glancing up at her face again. She regards him thoughtfully for a minute.

"So, what do you plan on doing?" she asks him, and he blinks. He hasn't even begun to consider his next plan of action. He has no goal, and the realization makes him feel like he's floundering. He's always had a purpose. Now that his promise to Maria has been fulfilled, it's like there's really nothing to do. She hadn't given him any clue as to what he still needs to accomplish, or what "living his life to the fullest" means. It's the first time he's considered her vagueness a flaw; until now it had been something of a novelty – purely Maria. He shakes his head.

"I don't know."

"Well, I know one thing you're going to have to do, and right away."

"And that is…?"

"Get some decent clothes on."

She laughs at him when he frowns at her, color flooding his face for, in his mind, no reason at all.

-

Left alone in his room, Shadow studies his reflection in the mirror. His once dark fur is now the pale yellow color of sunlight, and his eyes are a light green instead of red. He has no streaks on his quills anymore, he notices when he turns around and looks back over his shoulder. The dress is a little strange to him; he wonders how he's going to move around. He wonders if he can even homing attack, but inside is no place to find out. He puts his hands on his hips and sighs. This body is going to take some getting used to, definitely. And he misses his air shoes.

He opens the door and looks around the hallway, in which there is no sign of Amy or Tails. He steps out and jumps back immediately when a small robot wielding a feather duster whizzes by, green lights on its head flashing as it attacks and dusts every surface in sight. Shadow ignores it – there had been plenty of robots running around in Robotnik's wake when he was still on ARK, and he is used to them. He finds the stairs and descends, stopping outside a door when he hears Amy's voice.

"…Sonic will have a fit," she's saying. "He still has his arm bands (though they'll probably clash with his fur, now…)"

"Yeah," Tails replies in his placid voice, "I just wonder if Shadow will be able to adjust."

"Judging from how long he's been upstairs, it may take a while."

"I wonder if he still has all of his abilities."

Shadow continues past the door. If he has to find out, he'd prefer to do it alone. He opens the door, blinking in the bright sunlight, and moves away from the lab and onto the grass, looking around a little self consciously. He takes a deep breath and breaks into a run, which is pretty quick by normal standards but feels slow to him. He jumps, and to his extreme relief he is able to perform a homing attack. He lands easily and releases a breath he had been holding without realizing it. He looks down at his feet again; he isn't as fast without his air shoes. He doesn't know if being a girl has anything to do with it or not.

"Hey, you can still use your moves!"

He spins around and comes face-to-face with Amy.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"You didn't."

"Sure, sure. Does it feel weird?" He stares at her in confusion.

"Does what feel weird?"

She gives him a look that seems to imply she finds him extremely dense. She motions towards him, saying, "Being a girl, silly. That has feel a little strange for you."

"I'll get used to it."

The voice was actually a lot harder to cope with than his new body. It was hard to sound dark and serious in this higher-pitched voice, even though it isn't nearly as girlish as Amy's. He studies his gloves and Amy shrugs, looking him over.

"Am I a genius with color or what? It looks good."

"What, the dress?"

Amy sighs and pretends to look insulted. "Shadow, you're going to have to learn some fashion sense if you're going to be a girl. I should be training you or something. I know! You should come back to Station Square with me. I'll take you shopping!"

"You've got to be kidding. There's no way I'm–"

"Come on, it'll be fun!"

"No."

"Yes."

They square off, each a picture of defiance. Staring contest.

Glaring contest. Then Amy's heated stare turns to a softer, pleading look.

"Come on, Shadow, it'll be fun, I promise," she wheedles, eyes big and begging, and he has to look away.

"No," he says gruffly, or as gruffly as he can in his girl's voice. Amy harrumphs and plants her hands on her hips.

"What does it take, huh? We can grab something to _eat_."

She draws out the word "eat" in a way that makes him aware that he hasn't eaten for…however long he's been in this body. Amy watches him cautiously as he struggles against the two titans: aversion to shopping and hunger that's increased since he acknowledged it. Not to mention Amy's giving him Bambi eyes again, which is making it difficult for him to say no. Then she plays her ace.

"You even said you owe me. Please?"

"All right, all right!" he holds up his hands. "But only for a while, okay?"

"Yes!"

She snatches his wrist and starts tugging him with her.

"What, we're going _now_?" he asks as she shouts a goodbye to Tails, who had come out on the porch when he heard them arguing. She glances at him over her shoulder as she sprints for the train station.

"What did you think?"

"But your stuff is here!" he hadn't counted on having to put up with it _today_.

"We're coming back, aren't we? Hurry up!"

He groans, and then allows himself to be dragged along behind her.

_How bad could it be?_


	3. Shadow the Shoplifter

****

**Edited October 2**

The characters belong to Sega.

**_Reincarnate  
Chapter 3: Shadow the Shoplifter_**

"This is so _cute_!"

"I know! It's adorable."

"Now, see, I told you this would be fun. Aren't you glad you came with me?"

"Definitely!"

Shadow leans against the wall outside the dressing room, jaw clenched and staring at the two teenage girls who are obsessing over the clothes rack nearest him. Amy is in the dressing room trying on the pile of clothes she had taken in with her, having giving up on him for the time being – he had refused to try anything on and his only comment on the clothes she pointed out were neutral noises, so she had taken to trying the things on herself. He didn't care – he wasn't going to be seen modeling clothes, girl or not.

The two chattering girls finally go to sift through another rack, and he closes his eyes and enjoys the silence (still punctuated by occasional squeals of glee) for the time being. He doesn't know if all girls are the same about clothes, but those two kind of prove the image of the mall-obsessed teenage girl.

"Here, try this."

He almost jumps out of his skin. Amy's standing next to him, a shopping bag on each arm, and is holding out a blue dress.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because this is ridiculous. Why do I have to wear a _dress_, anyway?"

"Would you rather look at pants?"

"I'd rather leave," he mumbles under his breath, but she's already tugging him over to a rack of assorted jeans and the like.

"Pick something," she orders, and moves over to a bunch of shirts. He groans and stares at the rack, wondering if he should actually attempt to pick something out. Anything would be better than a dress. It's hard to be modest and homing attack at the same time while wearing something with a billowing skirt. He pulls out a pair of white capris, trying not to grimace. Amy is at his elbow in a flash, studying them critically, and then beaming.

"Great! Try them on with this shirt; I'll be right back."

"Nngh."

She disappears, weaving through the racks of clothes, and Shadow turns reluctantly for the dressing room. He changes into the new outfit and glances into a mirror. The shirt is the same color as the dress that he had tossed carelessly on the floor. These clothes definitely feel more comfortable than the dress, he decides. He changes back into his original outfit and brings the shirt and capris back out of the dressing room, looking around for Amy. She isn't there, and he wonders what to do. An idea occurs to him: he could leave. Just stand outside the mall, maybe, and wait for Amy to come looking for him. Then he'd drag them both back to the train station and escape this nightmarish place.

That's a really stupid idea, he chides himself, but still…

He begins to edge towards the glass doors, glancing around for any sign of Amy. When she doesn't show up, he moves a little faster, intent on getting to those doors. So close…he grabs the handle…and alarms start to sound. He yelps and jerks backwards, stumbling back into the store. He had forgotten he was holding the clothes and walked right through the detectors on either side of the doors. He curses himself for his stupidity as Amy runs up to him, security guard trailing her, looking bewildered.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, forget it," he says, as a security guard looks him up and down, taking in the clothes he's holding in plain view. After a couple minutes of uncomfortable questions the guard leaves, and Amy shakes her head in amusement.

"Trying to escape, eh?"

"Er…"

He can feel himself flushing, and she giggles.

"It's okay. Were those comfortable?"

"Huh? Oh – they were fine."

"Let's get those, then, and then we can go get something to eat."

He perks up at the mention of food, and she laughs again. Two minutes later they're reclining in chairs in an outdoor café, and Amy watches Shadow wolf down his sandwich in mild amusement.

"You know, Shadow," she starts, but he doesn't look up, intent on finishing his food. Amy waits a minute, then says a little louder, "You know, if you're going to be a girl, you might want to…will you _listen_ to me?"

"Hrmphl?"

Amy sighs.

"I was saying, if you're going to be a girl, you might want show a little more couth. Girls don't stuff half a sandwich in their mouths at once – people are staring, see?"

Shadow swallows with some difficulty and gives her a level look.

"Maybe they're staring because you're implying that I wasn't a girl before."

"Hmm."

He takes a long sip of soda and hiccups loudly, slapping a hand over his mouth. Amy rolls her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose.

"Shadow, Shadow, Shadow…"

-

"Looking good!"

"Spare me," Shadow mutters, turning away from the mirror in his room. Amy swings her legs casually from her perch on the end of Shadow's bed and says, "And I got something for you while you were working on getting arrested."

He spins around to face her, folding his arms defiantly.

"Look, I wasn't trying to shoplift, I was just –"

"I know that, Shadow," Amy laughs, holding up her hands. "It was a joke. And anyway, here," she holds out a small box to him. He opens it and finds two gold bracelets, just like Amy's, inside. He takes them out gingerly, touched in spite of himself.

"Thank you, Amy," he says sincerely. "That's thoughtful of you."

She giggles.

"You're so formal. Try 'em on, silly."

He slides them over his gloves and holds his wrists up for her to critique. As he watches the light sparkle off them, it occurs to him that they must have been expensive.

"I'll pay you back for these," he begins, but she cuts him off with an airy wave of her hand.

"Don't worry about it – they're a present. And they look good," she adds as a sort of afterthought, tilting her head slightly. He looks at the bracelets again guiltily, but shrugs it off for now. Speaking of money, he doesn't have any. Amy had bought all the things in the mall with her credit card. It looks like he's going to have to get a job or something.

Later that night he stares up at Tails' ceiling. It feels odd not to have a goal. As far as he can tell, all he's supposed to do is live life normally for once, without plots or chases or danger. And while it's a little slow compared to what he's used to, it does feel kind of nice not being stressed out about looking for Chaos Emeralds or dodging GUN. He lets his eyes drift closed, glancing over at his bedside table at the bracelets Amy bought for him, which are catching the moonlight that's streaming through his window. She's a nice girl, he thinks with a yawn, and then drifts off to sleep.

-

"Wake up, sunshine!"

Amy's loud, perky voice jerks him out of his doze. He's blinded momentarily by strong sunlight streaming through his window, and he blinks rapidly to clear his vision, sitting up with a groan.

"Amy, what are you doing?" So much for being _nice_…

"I made breakfast!" she sings out, waving a piece of toast under his nose. She snatches it back after he's gotten a good whiff of toast, butter, and jelly and says, "No, you're going to have to go downstairs and eat the rest of it. It's not just toast, you know."

If that isn't incentive to wake up, he's not sure what is. He's starving. He heads down the stairs after Amy in his pajamas, his stomach growling. He sits down at the table across from Tails, who's poring over a packet of diagrams, a spoonful of cereal frozen halfway to his mouth as he frowns at some sketches on the page. Shadow tugs a plate of bacon towards him and forks a piece, and Amy plunks down beside him with an ungraceful _frump_. She snatches his wrist as he brings the bacon to his mouth and grins.

"You get an etiquette lesson today, Shadow," she chirps. "Try _not_ putting it all in your mouth at once."

He glares at her with as much dignity as he can muster while taking a big bite out of his bacon strip. Amy sighs.

A knock on the door catches her attention before she says anything about it, though. She swings her head in the direction of the door and Tails jerks out of his diagram-induced daze.

"Was that the door?" he asks. Shadow nods through a mouthful of toast. The twin-tailed fox rises and heads for the door as the knocking starts up again. He disappears around a corner and Shadow glances at Amy to find her clenching her hands in her lap, eyes sparkling in a hopeful sort of way as she stares after Tails. Muffled conversation winds its way around the corner, and then a speedy, blue blur races into the kitchen. Shadow swallows and wipes his mouth hurriedly, and Amy leaps to her feet with an excited squeal.

"_Sonic_!"


	4. Feminine Wiles?

**Edited October 2**

The characters belong to Sega.

**_Reincarnate  
Chapter 4: Feminine Wiles?_**

As soon as Amy squeals her crush's name she winces. She had forgotten momentarily about not being such a fangirl. She tries to cover for it by folding her hands behind her back and smiling in a collected manner. Sonic, who had been eyeing her warily, relaxes when she refrains from leaping at him.

"Hey Amy," he says, tossing her a half smile that makes her dizzy as usual.

_Don't show it!_ She says to herself forcefully, and lifts a hand.

"Hi, Sonic…it's great to see you again. Where have you been?"

"Taking a break," he says vaguely. Amy notes with some dismay that her hero's eyes have fallen on Shadow curiously. He stares longer than is polite, and offers the same "Hey" that he had given to Amy, and that smile that she had always found flirtatious. She furrows her brow in confusion. Shadow lifts a hand casually and stretches across the table for the toast. Sonic reacts with his usual speed and grabs it, handing it to him with another grin. Shadow stares at him a minute before shrugging and thanking him.

"So Tails," Sonic says as the twin-tailed fox reenters the room, eyeing his precious diagrams. "You should have told me you had a guest; I would have come back earlier."

"Huh? Oh, right. That's a long story, Sonic…"

Amy tries to visualize Sonic taking Shadow's situation maturely. Somehow she can't picture it – after all, she had laughed when Shadow told her who he was. She tries to catch Tails' eye so she can convey this, but he's lost in his diagrams again, looking happy in his element. Amy fiddles with her bracelets, and Shadow stands up, accidentally bumping against the table and making the silverware clatter.

"I'm going to get dressed," he says, and darts up the stairs in his usual quick fashion, moving almost as swiftly as Sonic does. Her hero watches him leave with an odd expression on his face.

"So Sonic, what were you doing when – Sonic?"

He hadn't even been listening to her, staring instead towards the stairs with a stupid expression on his face, somewhere between a grin and a gape. Amy frowns and shouts, "EARTH TO SONIC!"

He jumps about a foot in the air, spinning around towards her with a guilty expression.

"What? Huh?"

"I was asking you what you were doing when you were…on your…never mind," she finishes with a sigh as Shadow reenters the room, dressed in the outfit he bought yesterday. She's pleased to see that he's wearing the bracelets she bought him, obviously resigning himself to his fate.

"You look good!" she pipes up when she notices his somewhat self-conscious look. Meanwhile a thought seemed to have occurred to Sonic.

"You're the first person I've met that's been this casual around me," he says, not succeeding in sounding anything less than full of himself, whatever his intentions had been. Amy rolls her eyes behind his back and Shadow gives the blue hero an odd look.

"Why wouldn't I be?" he asks, looking around at Amy.

"You were going to show me around Tails' lab today," he points out. Amy nods, for some reason relieved at the thought of a walk – it would help calm her down. She's beginning to feel hurt at Sonic's attitude. He isn't even listening to her when she talks, and she's not even being obnoxious! What is the deal?

"Right, we'll do that," she says, but Sonic jumps in.

"I'll go with you; I know the place better than Amy. No offense," he says quickly at her annoyed look. At this she relaxes a little. At least he had noticed he'd offended her. But again that wish that she and Sonic would just be alone for a minute worms its way into her mind. She shrugs it off as still being depressed about him not paying more attention to her. But then what had she been expecting – him to fall head over heels in love with her the second she refrained from hugging him? No.

"I'll be in my lab," Tails says in a distant voice, nose still buried in his papers, and heads off into the hallway. Amy munches on a cold piece of toast and beckons to Shadow, who follows her towards the stairs, Sonic in tow.

"Okay, up here he has his design rooms, bedrooms, and a sort of research facility, I guess," she says as they enter the hall where their bedrooms are, accidentally blowing toast crumbs out of her mouth as she talks. She blushes furiously and peeks back to see if Sonic was looking. Apparently he wasn't. He's alternately staring off into space and glancing at Shadow, whose attentive gaze moves from Amy to the doors around him. As she opens doors Sonic jumps in to talk about some of Tails recent inventions, and describes the Tornado with intricate detail. Shadow nods frequently and makes interested noises, but Amy can see the flicker of boredom in his now green eyes. Robotnik's machine was very similar to Tails' Tornado, so he probably knows about all the features already. Sonic seems oblivious, going on and on incessantly. Amy is a little surprised; the only time she's ever heard him talk this much is when he's talking about himself or one of his adventures.

She leads them downstairs and opens the door to Tails' lab quietly, giving Shadow time to glance around before moving away again. Tails hadn't noticed them there, buried in a pile of mechanical parts and scribbling things on a large whiteboard. Amy has only seen him working once or twice, and by now knows better than to try to make conversation with him when he's absorbed in something – it's just about the only thing that comes close to annoying him. But he's probably had practice being patient, with someone like Sonic as a best friend: Sonic is a good guy, but always gone. The only time Tails really gets to see him is during dangerous escapades like the ARK incident, and sometimes at irregular intervals in between adventures, like now.

When the "tour" is over and Shadow's curiosity is satisfied, the three hedgehogs retire to Tails' living room, which has a few comfortable chairs, a sofa, and a big-screen T.V., which Amy turns on as they enter with the complex control that she can assume Tails built himself. Basically anything electronic in the house is Tails' handiwork, something she has always been impressed with. She has trouble with wood projects, let alone something like the Tornado. She sits carefully in a chair and Shadow drops gracelessly into the chair next to her. Sonic flops onto the couch, feet up on the arm.

"So when'd you get here?" he asks, the question directed at Shadow, who looks away from the T.V. and says, "A couple of days ago. I came with Amy."

Amy braces herself. If there's ever a time to tell Sonic exactly what's going on, it's now. She clears her throat and switches off the T.V., turning in her chair to face her blue idol. But before she can utter a word Sonic turns to Shadow again and says, "If you ever want to be shown around Station Square…I could take you. We could try Twinkle Park, or something."

Amy goes hot, then very cold. She feels it building up, tries to hold it back but can't…she bursts out laughing so hard she falls out of her chair and lands on the floor, clutching at her sides as she pictures it: Shadow and Sonic on a date. So _that's_ what was going on, why Sonic was ignoring her! What a hoot!

"What's so funny?" Sonic asks, a trace of indignation in his voice. Amy can't answer; she's gasping for breath. Meanwhile, Shadow seems to grasp exactly what's been asked. He goes very pale.

"Uh, did you mean…like a _date_?"

"Well…"

Shadow starts to shudder. Amy settles down as her concern grows, watching Shadow double up in his chair, shoulders shaking.

"Are you okay? I didn't mean to–" she begins, but then a tiny sound, close to "meep" escapes from Shadow, and then he starts to laugh. Not as loudly as Amy, but laughing all the same. Amy watches in something like wonder: she can't remember ever hearing him laugh before.

"I think you'd better tell him," Shadow says seriously, his laughter dying away, now coming in spurts, reminding Amy of herself two days ago. Amy complies. As Sonic listens, his eyes grow steadily wider and his face gets redder. Finally he slaps his hands to his face and yells something they can't make out into his gloves, stomping out of the room. Shadow and Amy take another look at each other and dissolve in laughter again.

-

High up in the night sky, a floating island is home to the last of the echidnas. The Emerald is still miraculously in one piece, even in all the commotion on the ARK, and Knuckles, the Guardian of the said Emerald, is the happiest he's ever been to be home. Because although life on Angel Island is lonely, if he's there it means things are pretty much normal, and he can take a break from all the excitement. It has been a few days since ARK had almost hit the Earth, and he's enjoying the peacefulness of the night in training. He's standing on one of the broken pillars surrounding the altar, punching the air in a quick succession of jabs – a test of both balance and speed.

He leaps to another pillar, punching the air again as soon as he lands. He spirals upwards, swinging his barbed fists around in a whirlwind, and lands gracefully on the ground. He sighs and looked up at the starry sky. He had been up there, in space, less than a week ago. Already that time has a dreamlike quality to it. He had experienced the same thing after the encounter with Chaos.

At that thought he glances at the Emerald. Chaos and Tikal had been imprisoned in the Emerald for years before Robotnik had freed the beast. Luckily for all of them, the villain had unknowingly freed Tikal as well, and she turned out to be the one to solve the mystery for them by taking them with her into the past so that they could use the information gathered there to piece to the puzzle together. And now she was gone into the afterlife, taking a more peaceful Chaos with her. But it still gives him a bit of a chill when he thinks about how they had been there all his life, and he had never known it. He'd never really looked at the Master Emerald the same way again.

He looks around at the stone columns, where the Chaos Emeralds once stood. They are all back on the space colony, and he isn't exactly itching to bring them back down to Earth again. Wherever they are, there's trouble, he had learned after the two near-disasters. Power could be such a pain when used wrongly.

A rustling sound comes out of nowhere in the sky above. He jerks his gaze upwards again, but sees nothing. But further down the island, towards the distant mountains, he catches a glimpse of a dark shadow moving swiftly across the island, caused by the light from the half moon that remained. At night the red core of the moon can be seen, an eternal reminder of the devastation that could have occurred. He frowns into the night, eyes still locked on the area where the shadow had been. He may be a bit gullible, but he isn't an idiot in any case. The shadow does not bode well, he's fairly certain.

This suspicion reaches swift confirmation as the air fills with a sound not unlike thunder. But Knuckles knows it well enough after having heard it twice to realize that the once-unthinkable is happening. Angel Island is falling again.

"Just perfect," the Guardian mutters, bracing himself as he feels the Island beginning to drop.


	5. Seeking Names

**Edited November 22**

All characters belong to Sega.

_**Reincarnate  
**__**Chapter 5: Seeking Names**_

"You know, Shadow's kind of a stupid name for you now," Sonic says, a trace of a scowl on his face. "You're as yellow as a buttercup."

It had been almost two hours since what was already known as "the incident", and Sonic is trying to make up for the embarrassment by taking every opportunity to make some sort of wisecrack about Shadow's condition. The formerly male hedgehog is ignoring him, staring at the T.V. and changing channels so rapidly it's impossible to see what's actually on before it goes to another show. Amy glares over his head at Sonic, whose brow is furrowed in annoyance. She sighs and says, "Sonic, it was an easy mistake to make – it's probably going to happen again."

The channels stop changing as Shadow freezes. Open horror crosses his face for a moment before he composes himself and keeps channel surfing.

"So are you going to decide on a channel or what?" Sonic asks irritably. "You've been going through the same channels for an hour."

"I'm waiting until something _interesting_ comes on," Shadow says slowly, as if talking to a toddler. "You know…something I _want_ to watch. Not this soap opera crap."

Sonic flushes red in anger at his tone, and Amy buries her face in her hands and sighs loudly in frustration. Tails wanders into the room, looks around and asks in a weary tone, "What's going on now?"

"Nothing, nothing," Amy says, getting to her feet and walking towards the door, announcing to the room in general, "I'm going to get some fresh air."

She stomps out of the lab and groans loudly at the sky from the small porch. She hops off the porch and runs around in a small circle. She doesn't know why she's so annoyed and confused. For some reason Sonic liking Shadow (even if it was only for a few minutes) has shriveled her hopes of him ever asking her out. After all, he's known her for years, and yet he took on look at Shadow the Female and boom – asked him out. Why doesn't he ever notice her? She's doing everything she can!

She starts to pace, a slight breeze blowing her pink quills out of her face and making the fabric of her dress rustle. She hadn't even thought about what it would be like once Sonic arrived, even though she knew he had to show up sometime. It's pretty clear that he and Shadow aren't going to be getting along, especially since Sonic seems to be blaming his embarrassment on Shadow. It's an immature thing to do, but then Sonic is, has always been, sort of…she shakes her head. What is she doing? Insulting Sonic, her hero? She had never seen him as anything but perfect, but something about spending time with Shadow has made her entire perspective go awry. She notices clouds in the sky.

She paces to the end of the cliff, looking down over the wooden fence separating her from the drop to the foamy sea. She leans her arms on the fence and sighs heavily, watching the storm gather on the horizon. She can hear thunder in the distance.

She also hears the door of the lab open and close, but she doesn't turn around. But in a second she sees a flash of pale yellow out of the corner of her eye and looks over to see Shadow sitting on one of the fence poles, dangling his legs in the air above the sheer drop.

"Careful," she says, straightening up and watching him. He casts an amused glance at her and says, "Are you all right? You've been tense today."

Amy runs a hand through her quills uneasily.

"I'm fine, just…jumpy."

"Why?"

She stares at him. Isn't it obvious? She's had her heart set on Sonic since she first saw him and he goes and chooses someone who's not really even a girl, who he had only known about half and hour before deciding he liked them! Despite these thoughts she only shrugs and mutters, "Dunno. But you're the one Sonic's harassing – getting annoyed yet?"

An odd expression flits across his face, but he shrugs and grins – one of the few times she's seen him do so – and says, "It's pretty easy to ignore it, actually. It makes a nice background whine."

She giggles in spite of herself and looks out towards the horizon again. Thunder rolls across the sky again, and a cool wind whips both their quills around.

"Whew!" she exclaims. "It's getting cold. We should probably go back in."

"If you're sure you're okay," Shadow says, something akin to concern in his eyes as he glances at her again.

"Yeah. Thanks for coming out to find me."

_Thanks for actually caring, _she says to herself. Why couldn't it be Sonic who had worried, or even noticed, that she wasn't feeling like herself? Not that there was anything wrong with Shadow being nice, of course. She feels confused again. Shadow hops off the post, and a loud boom shakes the ground underneath them.

"What was that?" Amy yells over the howling wind.

Shadow shrugs and reaches out, grabbing her arm and holding on to it tightly. Another loud crack nearly deafens them and she grabs onto him without thinking, burying her face in his neck. Wait – she's supposed to be showing some _independence_ here! Before she can start, however, a huge wave of water off to her right catches her attention. She looks around and gasps in wonder as a huge, rocky structure settles in the water, sending a tidal wave over part of the area. She disengages herself gently from Shadow's grip and walks a few paces towards the new addition to the ruins, a place she had only seen once before: Angel Island.

A few seconds later the door bangs open again and Sonic speeds out as a blue blur, skidding to a halt a little ways in front of Amy, taking on an attack stance.

_Oh, great, now he wants to protect me – us, _she thinks bitterly.

"Angel Island fell again?" Tails asked, his young face troubled. He draws level with Amy, and Shadow does likewise on her other side. They seem to wait, although Amy doesn't know what for. But the tense air is broken when a red speck hurtles towards them from the direction of the Island.

"Knuckles," Sonic says, shaking his head and taking on a more relaxed stance. "What's he gotten himself into now?"

The red speck grows steadily larger, and soon Amy can make out the Guardian's face and white symbol on his chest. He slowly descends and lands on the ground about ten feet away from them, jogging a little until his momentum runs out. He glances over at them, piercing them all even from a distance with his violet gaze, and folds his arms.

"Hey, Knuckles," Amy says, a little shy of the echidna. She doesn't know him very well, had only talked to him a few times when they were on adventures, but she is aware that he isn't one to be messed with and that he's a little, well…antisocial. But he waves a barbed, gloved hand at her in acknowledgement of her greeting and says, "Something's up, guys."

"_Nooo_," Sonic says sarcastically, and Knuckles' eyes harden. The warning signal is obvious to Amy, but Sonic continues on obliviously, "Really? 'Cause usually your island just drops out of the sky randomly. I bet you have a little button that you push when you want to – erk!"

Knuckles had zipped over to Sonic with speed reminiscent of the blue hedgehog's own, and now has an enormous fist clamped around Sonic's neck. The blue hedgehog's feet leave the ground and dangle in the air as Knuckles raises Sonic to his eye level.

"_Something_," he repeats slowly, "Is wrong. I saw its shadow and it made the island fall."

Sonic wheezes something that Knuckles seems to accept as an apology, for he puts the smaller furry down and folds his arms again.

"Is the Master Emerald still intact?" Tails asks, and he earns a brief nod from the Guardian, who produces it out of seemingly nowhere: whole, large, and very shiny. Amy is captivated for a moment by its beauty.

"Well, I for one am willing to bet this is Eggman's work, as usual," Amy says confidently, and there's brief murmur of assent. Tails' twin tails wave through the air thoughtfully and he says, "What happened, exactly?"

"There was a rustling sound from the air, like the beats of large wings, and I saw a huge shadow gliding over the mountain. But when I looked up, I couldn't see anything," Knuckles tells them, and Tails nods.

"Maybe it's some kind of cloaking device," he says, his tails waving faster as the wheels of his mind churn. "What direction was it headed?"

"Over the sea, away from the Ruins," Knuckles answers, and they all look at each other with the same expression on each of their faces.

"Towards Station Square," the Guardian finishes, and Tails says, "I'll get the Tornado." He takes off running towards his lab, his tails swishing wildly behind him.

"All _right_!" Sonic says with his famous grin, "I was worried Eggman was taking a break. Let's go, guys."

They all run after Tails, Amy with the usual fluttery feeling in her stomach that always comes before a new adventure. She had been counting on something of a break from the action. She glances towards Shadow, who nods at her reassuringly. All right, then.


	6. Seen and Unseen

**Edited November 22**

All characters belong to Sega

_**Reincarnate  
**__**Chapter 6: Seen and Unseen**_

Amy isn't sure how they all managed to cram into the Tornado, but she's squished inconveniently between the cold metal side of the transformer and Shadow, whose new hips are proving to be something of an annoyance. Sonic is sitting by Tails in the cockpit, tapping the side of the plane impatiently. Amy doesn't know if he could have been going as fast himself, but he certainly couldn't be running on water. Knuckles' expression is unreadable as usual.

_Tap_, _tap_, _tap_…Amy's quills ruffle, and she finally snaps, "Will you _stop_ that?"

She chooses to assume that Sonic didn't hear her over the roar of the Tornado's engines rather than wonder if he had just ignored her. She tears her eyes away from his glove, shaking her head slightly at the fact that he always has to be moving, somehow. She assumes that if he sat perfectly still for just one minute he'd explode.

The coast and skyline of Station Square come into view, a beautiful, sparkling jewel in the sea. Tails maneuvers the plane over the sands of Emerald Coast and says, "Okay, can you jump out from here? I need to transform."

It's an uncomfortable endeavor. Knuckles jumps out first, jostling Shadow, who knocks against Amy, squishing her against the metal side of the plane.

"Sorry," he says sheepishly as Knuckles glides out over the sand and lands a short distance away. Shadow scoots away from her, and she nearly collapses in the relief of having more space. Shadow jumps out, curling up into a revolving yellow blur and performing a homing attack, landing easily on the white sand. Amy follows somewhat less gracefully, clenching her dress tightly in her hands so it won't flare out and landing roughly, toppling over and sitting with a bump. She looks up, cheeks flushing, to find Shadow's hand extended towards her. She takes it and hauls herself to her feet, brushing the sand off her dress as Sonic lands a short distance away from her.

He doesn't even glance over to make sure she was unhurt from her fall, and she finds herself feeling resentful again. He takes off running towards the direction of the city and she follows, trailing slightly behind Shadow and feeling somewhat grateful that he can't run quite so fast, otherwise she'd be in their dust. Knuckles stays a little ahead of them, a crimson blur racing after Sonic.

As they reach the outskirts of the city, a loud sound like silk being ripped pierces their ears.

"Ouch!" Amy yelps over the noise. Even Knuckles winces slightly. It dies away very suddenly and is replaced by an explosion that rocks the ground beneath their feet. They all look around wildly, but Amy doesn't see anything out of the ordinary.

That is, until one of the buildings towards the heart of the city shakes, bits of brick and concrete falling to the pavement several stories below.

"What's going on?" she asks, her voice high and squeaky from nervousness. "What's doing that?"

"Let's go find out," Sonic says with his trademark grin, and speeds off towards the site of the destruction. Amy stares after him, suddenly and inexplicably annoyed by his casual attitude. He'd always been nonchalant about danger, but she had always seen that as some kind of bravery before now.

But that might be because she's usually the hostage and is waiting for him to rescue her. Watching him stroll into the heat of battle and smash robots from one of Robotnik's screens while held in his various bases was all well and good at the time, but now that she's actually involved it seems a little careless.

Shadow starts jogging after him, and she keeps pace with him with some difficulty, huffing, "Seems – kind of – stupid to just – barge in there," between breaths. Shadow nods slowly, saying as calmly as if he was just standing there and not sprinting, "We can't even see what it is. Maybe he has a plan?"

"I – doubt it. He kind of – likes to – wing it. You know?"

"That's not an intelligent way to approach this kind of situation…" Shadow says, increasing his speed with obvious reluctance. "…But still, best to stay close and help if we can."

"I suppose," she mutters, drawing her Piko-Piko hammer and holding it out as she runs, plunging into the heart of Station Square after her speedy blue hero.

The first thing she notices is the large amount of robots swarming around, blasting buildings with their guns and taking aim at frightened people, most of whom are evacuating the surrounding buildings. Sonic attacks these first, charging with an ever-widening grin into the fray. He takes out several in quick succession with a series of homing attacks, and Knuckles shatters one into tiny metal fragments with a single punch. Amy watches the destruction for a second, and then Shadow leaps in, crushing a robot and ripping it apart with steely quills.

Amy hesitates, then charges forward, swinging her hammer at the nearest robot with a fierce battle cry.

It connects and the robot sails backwards, skidding on the ground in a shower of sparks. It beeps, twitches, and shuts down. A triumphant smile breaks out across Amy's face.

"Yes!" she yells, twirling lightly.

"Amy!" she hears Sonic say in a slightly irritated voice. "Come on, don't just stand there!"

She controls the hurt at the remark – he's right, after all: there are still many other robots to destroy. She swings her hammer with all her strength again, demolishing another robot. She ducks and covers her face with her free arm as shards of metal whip past her, one grazing her arm while the rest bounce away harmlessly. The others are moving too quickly to worry too much about the flying debris. Tails is blasting robots away with his transformed Tornado, constant blue flashes of light added to the fading sunlight.

She pulls back her hammer again…and strong metal pincers clamp around her waist. With a squeal she's hauled into the air and turned so that she's staring into flickering red eyes. The pressure around her midriff increases. She pants for breath.

She opens her mouth automatically to call for Sonic, but self-disgust keeps it down.

Why should she have to yell for him? She should just fight, and if it doesn't work, then she'll ask for aid. Sonic has rescued her enough times!

She pulls back her hammer and brings it down with all her strength on the robot's metal head. It beeps and whirrs, the lights of its eyes winking out and the body slumping sideways. The pincers, however, are still clamped tightly around her waist as two more robots start towards her. She squeezes her eyes shut and suppresses a whimper.

_No! Gotta be brave, gotta be brave…_

She lashes out wildly at the first robot and clips its arm. It doesn't even slow down. She swings again, the pincer inhibiting her movements, not to mention escape, and dents its chest.

_Forget this – I need help!_

"Hey! Help!" she yells, and almost immediately a pale yellow blur smashes into the closest robot. It blasts apart, and she covers her face. She looks up to see Shadow demolish the second robot while someone pries apart the pincers. She drops to the ground gratefully, clasping her side, and glances up into the amethyst eyes of the Guardian, who moves off immediately towards another metal menace.

"Thanks!" she calls after him, and he lifts a barbed fist. Then he punches the robot so hard it flies backwards, leaving a small crater in the wall of the building it hits and shattering into a thousand pieces. Many more robots whir towards them, wielding blasters and other assorted guns.

"Don't these things ever quit?" she muses aloud. She looks around for Shadow to see him attacking a line of advancing E-series bots, feeling guilty for not thanking him right away.

The action stops almost immediately when, with a boom and roar, an upper section of one of the skyscrapers several meters away comes hurtling to the ground. There is complete silence from Amy and the others as chips of concrete and stone scatter, punctuated by the frightened cries of the few remaining people.

"Sonic…" she says fearfully, and her hero looks at her, his emerald eyes as confused as hers must be. There isn't anything there, as far as they can tell, although a strong breeze whips up and blows their quills about, and there is a distinct sound like wings beating.

With a metallic hiss and a maniacal laugh, Robotnik's all-too-familiar hovercraft drops down in front of them all.

"Eggman," Sonic mutters, disgust evident in his tone. The only times Amy ever sees Sonic look at someone with deep, genuine loathing are when he's facing the evil doctor.

"What are you up to this time?" her hero snaps angrily, his eyes burning with anger as they move from the ruins of the building to the overweight man maneuvering the craft. Robotnik laughs again, leering at Sonic.

"Why, just setting my new plan in motion, of course!" he announces delightedly, waving a hand vaguely towards the enormous section of the building that litters the fractured street. He casts an unconcerned glance over the group, then does a double take, staring at Shadow. A slow grin spreads across his face.

"Well! Another hedgehog to intimidate – wonderful."

"You won't be able to frighten me, doctor," Shadow says coldly. "I already know your ways."

Robotnik blinks and frowns, confusion etching lines in his forehead.

"Your plan to use the laser at ARK to take over the world failed spectacularly," Shadow continued. "Why should this one work?"

"You're acting awfully familiar, hedgehog," Robotnik snarls, pushing his small ship forward and peering down at Shadow through his dark glasses. "What makes you think you know how my glorious mind works?"

"I worked with you on ARK," he says, his dark tone not as threatening as it could be because of his higher-pitched voice. "I know all about the plan you formulated there, and how you helped us to stop the space colony from colliding with Earth. Maybe you're not as evil as you'd like us to think."

Robotnik glares at the defiant hedgehog.

"You're a liar," he says decisively. "I've never seen you before in my life. But enough of this…"

He makes a signal with his hand and an enormous robot drops to the ground behind him, holding a huge hammer and looking very sturdy. The doctor smirks at the group and starts to ascend into the cloudy sky, calling "The Mega-Bot will take care of you nicely. We'll meet again."

He shoots away, and another strong breeze kicks up debris and dust as enormous wing beats sound against the sky once more. Amy watches him go as the others tense up, eyes on the robot, which is blundering around rather aimlessly. Once it catches sight of them, its actions become much more decisive. It swings its hammer around, rotating on the spot to create a blur that keeps the others from advancing any closer.

"_Now_ how are we going to get to it?" Amy complains, and almost immediately the robot stops spinning the hammer, thrown off balance by the sudden cessation in spinning. Sonic doesn't waste a second and jumps forward, smashing into its head and toppling it. Shadow, Tails and Knuckles join in the fray, punching, shooting, and tearing with barbs and quills until the robot is nothing more than a pile of twisted metal.

Sonic jumps up and lands beside Amy, tossing her a grin.

"That wasn't so hard," he says, brushing an invisible speck of dust from his arm and winking at her. Amy sighs.

"Sonic, we still don't know what that thing was that tore off the section of the building," she reminds him, nodding towards the destruction ahead. Sonic pauses in his stretching and glances up at her, looking a little surprised for some reason. Probably because she wasn't squealing and hugging him, she reasons, and shrugs it off.

Shadow approaches, staring out in the direction Robotnik flew.

"Should we attempt to follow him?" he asks, frowning at the sky. Sonic shrugs.

"He's got a head start and we'll be looking in the dark," he says, stretching his other leg. "But we can try."

"I think we should," Amy says, surprised at her own assertiveness. "It's no use waiting until he attacks again – by then it might be too late and people could get hurt. We should follow him while we can."

Knuckles approaches and nods in agreement.

"I second that. Whatever it was that we couldn't see sounded huge. Did you hear those wing beats?"

"So it's decided then," Sonic says, standing up straight. Tails fiddles with the controls of the Tornado and it transforms swiftly back into the plane. They hop in, Amy between Knuckles and Shadow this time, and they take off, heading into the darkness after Robotnik. They're all silent, pondering what the invisible creature could possibly be.

After all, how can you fight something you can't see?


	7. The Way You Were

**Edited November 22**

All canon characters belong to Sega.

_**Reincarnate  
**__**Chapter 7: The Way You Were**_

Shadow sits tensely in the Tornado. They've flown way past Station Square in hot pursuit of Robotnik, but so far have come up with a blank as to where he might have gone. Knuckles had dryly pointed out that he might have turned at some point, but since they had no idea which way that might have been Tails had decided to keep flying straight. Right now fields are melting away beneath them as they approach mountains, and Amy, even though they could be heading straight towards danger, looks like she's getting tired. Shadow is far from sleepy; his adrenaline is still rushing from the encounter in Station Square.

Their true adversary is very much invisible – this much is certain. But how is that possible? What is the thing? These and many more questions like them have been buzzing around in Shadow's head for the duration of the flight, which has carried them into darkness lit only by the lights of Tails' plane.

A sudden pressure on his shoulder makes him glance around. Amy has finally dropped off and is leaning against him. He blinks, wondering if he should wake her up or just let her sleep.

It confuses him that he would even consider just letting her stay there. Normally he'd have been annoyed and pushed whoever it was off, maybe roughly enough to wake them. But he doesn't mind her being there, and he doesn't know why that is.

When he had first met Amy on Prison Island, his first impression had been: "She's pretty stupid." This was justified for she had been unable to distinguish him from Sonic at a distance of maybe five feet. Sonic is blue. He is – had been – black. It really doesn't strike him as difficult to see the difference.

But Amy hadn't been the only one to confuse the two of them, so it may just be people in general who are kind of dumb and certainly gullible. But it had come in handy then, he had to admit.

The point is that Amy has changed a bit, or at least he thinks she does. She isn't squealing and fawning over Sonic, her alleged "hero", for one thing, and she also has been showing some bravery. Even when Amy had convinced him to fight the Biolizard, she hadn't necessarily been brave. She was staying while the others fought, and while she did help them indirectly by convincing Shadow to come to their aid, she had in truth done very little. But not an hour ago she was fighting off the robots, even while caught by one. He isn't familiar enough with her old personality to be sure, but he's wiling to bet that she would have been yelling for help, maybe not even fighting at all, if she was the same girl she had been on ARK.

Maybe it's the fact that he doesn't see Amy the same way as he had before that lets him tolerate her dozing against him.

Sonic glances back at them from the cockpit and starts at the sight. Shadow pretends that he didn't notice (he _was_ looking to the side), but he can see Sonic stare at them for a second out of the corner of his eye. The blue hedgehog turns away and faces front again, tapping the side of the Tornado with renewed gusto and a tense hand. Shadow notes this curiously – what does he have to be tense about?

"Hey," Tails says, his voice laced with excitement and a little nervousness. "Look down there – see the lights?"

Shadow cranes his neck and looks out. Sure enough, glowing in the darkness of the mountains are several lights. He squints and peers down at them – a dark shape obscures one every so often. He guesses these are robots.

He turns and nudges Amy, who stirs but doesn't wake. Oh, for Pete's sake…he shakes her shoulder with his free hand, and she blinks groggily and groans softly.

"It looks like we've reached the doctor's base," he tells her, and for the first time she seems to notice that she's leaning on him. She straightens quickly.

"Sorry about that," she says, "We've reached his base?"

"Look at the lights," Shadow says, and she leans forward, looking down for a minute before sitting back again. Knuckles is looking down over the side of the Tornado curiously, his fists already tensing as if he's anticipating the fighting they'll be doing to get in and reach Robotnik.

"Whew," Amy says, taking a deep breath. "Guess we'll have to fight our way through, huh?"

Shadow nods, and Sonic asks, "Have a good nap back there, Amy?"

She frowns at his sarcastic tone, replying, "It was great. Bet you wish you could fall asleep in moments of tension."

Sonic scoffs but doesn't respond, staring moodily ahead at their destination. Amy shrugs as best she can, given the cramped conditions of the Tornado, and Tails starts to descend. He hovers some ways above the ground as he did before, and they jump out. Amy manages not to fall this time – a good thing, since she'd be landing on rock and not sand – and they turn towards the lights, which look a lot bigger and more menacing from the ground.

Sonic turns and looks at them all, still wearing that carefree grin which Shadow is beginning to find especially irritating. Who smiles before plunging nose-first into danger? It strikes him as foolhardy and rather arrogant to act so casual about this endeavor.

"All ready?" he asks, and when there's no sign of dissent he leads them forward at a jog towards the base.

Almost immediately they're intercepted by a horde of robots. Shadow hears Amy groan in frustration, but she whips out her hammer. He blinks – where did it come from, anyway? He pushes the thought from his mind and lays into one of the robots. A loud clang and an indignant, off-key beep sound from the right, where Amy has smashed a robot with her hammer.

Too bad she can't homing attack – the hammer, though powerful, isn't very efficient. It takes so much time to fully demolish a robot and then move on to the next. But she handles herself all right, reducing two more bots to a pile of metal rubble.

Tails joins the fray, blasting the larger robots to pieces with the guns on his Tornado. Sonic is taking down several, with a sort of furious concentration. Whatever got him in a bad mood, at least he's taking it out on the robots and not the rest of his companions. A robot flies past him and smashes to bits when it collides with a rock wall, and Knuckles moves on to the next enemy.

"They keep coming," Tails calls from his lofty position in the Tornado. "We should start moving forward otherwise we'll be in this same spot for ages."

They advance slowly, in something of a straight line, taking out the numerous bots on the way. What the ones in front (Shadow and Sonic) miss, the others destroy. They don't have much work to do – the two hedgehogs up front manage to demolish almost every single enemy they come up against.

In time they gain a considerable amount of ground and have half their minds on how to get into the fortress.

"Where are the robots coming from?" Sonic yells over the screeching sound of metal being torn. Tails scans the rock walls, squinting in the bright lights of the fortress.

"I can't tell," he says at length, "But they're slowing down."

It's true – instead of an endless stream of metal adversaries, only a few new ones attack, and then only in spurts. They're taken care of quickly, and the group stands in front of what looks like a solid rock wall. They look up, down, and all across the wall, but see nothing that would indicate a door.

"Great," Knuckles says peevishly, and smashes a small crater in the wall with his fist. A metallic clang echoes throughout the area.

"That's a classic," Tails says with a frown.

"Tell me about it," Amy mutters. "The same thing's happened in every mystery movie I've watched. The enemy hides behind a disguised door."

"It's too easy," Knuckles says suspiciously. "I could break through this wall if I wanted to – there should be more defenses. And why did the robots stop coming?"

"Good point," Shadow says darkly, running a hand along the wall, "They could be waiting inside."

Discussion is cut off as a shadow descends on the group. They all turn to the side slowly and stare up into the blank face of an enormous robot, of the same kind Robotnik dropped on them in Station Square.

"Another one?" Sonic asks with a grin. "What a waste of metal."

"I've got it," Knuckles says, and while he pulverizes the robot, which does take a while given its size, the others stay well away from its hammer. Meanwhile, Tails fiddles with the controls on the Tornado, and a bright blue beam that hums eerily. As the robot to the side of them is finally demolished completely, courtesy of Knuckles' fists, Tails directs the beam at the wall and sweeps it across. Rather than doing any damage, as Shadow suspected it might, it appears to be something of a scan.

"I can't detect anything behind the door," the kitsune says, scratching one ear. "There's either nothing there or it's a really thick door."

"I'll bet on the second one," Shadow says darkly. "The doctor _always_ has plenty of robots everywhere."

"Why do you call him a doctor?" Sonic asks with a roll of his eyes. "The guy's a giant, egotistical egg."

"He can be brilliant, in his way," Shadow says calmly. "His inventions are some of the best I've seen. It's the fact that he uses them for evil that takes away from his genius."

"_What_ genius?" Sonic mutters, but drops the subject. Amy comes to stand by Shadow and bites her lip as she examines the wall.

"Should we try to get through it?" she asks doubtfully. "Maybe we should look for the entrance the robots used instead. He'd be expecting us to go through this door."

"That's a good idea," Shadow acknowledges, and she beams, twirling her hammer.

"Well?" she asks, the question directed at Sonic. The blue hero shrugs, jogging impatiently in place. Tails clanks closer to them.

"I agree with Amy," he says slowly. "This entrance is just too obvious – he's probably just waiting for us to blast our way through, and then he'll launch a surprise attack. The robots came in two steady streams for a while, so there are probably two entrances on either side of this door, if we can find them."

"So get in two groups," Sonic says, "And let's get this over with. How about…me, Tails, and Amy will look around the left, and Shadow and Knuckles look around on the right?"

Shadow feels a twinge of annoyance at the suggestion – he wouldn't mind working with Amy. But then, the pink hedgehog is probably thrilled that her hero chose her for his group, so he doesn't say anything. He and Knuckles jog off towards the right, and he hears the other three move off in the opposite direction.

He shouldn't care about which group Amy's in – it's inconsequential in comparison to the job they have right now. But he's still annoyed…why is that?

On the other side of the wall, Amy is every bit as confused as he is.


	8. Into the Dark

**Edited November 22**

All canon characters belong to Sega.

_**Reincarnate  
**__**Chapter 8: Into the Dark**_

Amy trails after Sonic, eyeing his quills in confusion. Normally Sonic would have been glad to dump her on some other group, but he had deliberately chosen her to go with him. He's finally giving her some attention! She feels…

Pleasantly surprised?

That isn't right. She's supposed to be ecstatic, over-the-moon joyful, hopeful, wondering what it means…

Actually, she is wondering what it means, but her heart isn't racing and her limbs aren't buzzing with adrenaline, or anything she would have expected from something like this. What's wrong with her? She puzzles over it until they reach one end of the wall, and Tails stares down the length of it. Amy follows his gaze, her eyes drifting to the two small shapes on the other end of it, one of which jumps up onto the rock wall and latches there, head snapping left and right – Knuckles. Automatically her gaze drifts to the figure still on the ground.

She doesn't know if it's tact or just a coincidence, but Tails glances down at them and says, "I'm going to examine the wall more closely."

He moves off in the Tornado, the heavy metal footfalls reverberating off the stone around them. Amy turns to Sonic almost cautiously.

"I guess we should start looking for an entrance, huh?" she asks, and makes to move around him, but stops dead when he takes her arm.

"Hey, Amy," he starts, looking thoughtful. She looks at him expectantly. He struggles for a minute, finally asking, "You're thirteen now, aren't you?"

His tone tells her that isn't what he wanted to say. This is too weird.

"I – yes, I am."

"I mean, you're…different," he tells her, although he's turned away and is examining the sides of the wall. She moves a bit to the side and does the same, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.

"What d'you mean 'different'?"

"Calmer," he responds at once, and she lifts a shoulder, trying not to seem surprised – and admittedly a bit excited – that he had noticed. There – she's excited. That's the old Amy Rose returning. But why should she be relieved about something stupid like that?

"Well, I guess I just…got tired of jumping around like that all the time. It didn't do anything to help."

"That's another thing," he says, abandoning a search for a hidden entrance, "You fought the robots. You didn't even scream when one of them caught you."

What do you say to something like that?

"I did what I could," she murmurs uncomfortably, and he shakes his head.

"It's not a bad thing," he assures her. "Just not like you."

That's a little insulting. She feels a twinge of irritation somewhere in the back of her mind, but keeps her voice level when she says, "I guess ARK kind of made me mature…it's the first time I've really been that close to…to dying."

It's true. She'd been a hostage before, of course, but mainly she'd been ignored, left in a cell as bait for Sonic. But this time Robotnik had been clearly on edge. She doesn't doubt that if pushed far enough, he really would have killed her. Everything had been at stake for him, and she had been in a very dangerous position. Sonic regards her thoughtfully, and says, "But what's weirdest is…you're…well, you're acting normal around me. You haven't asked me to marry you or anything like that yet."

She bursts out laughing, and she doesn't even know why. Maybe because it sounds ridiculous when he actually says it out loud, or maybe because…he's acting like he's bothered by the absence of it?

"What?" he asks indignantly, and she says, "I didn't think you'd mind that I've stopped."

"I don't," he replies bluntly.

Her laughter dies down a bit, fading into little spurts. Oh. So it's not that he minds.

"You always know just what to say," she mumbles, but he doesn't hear her.

"Why's that, though?" he continues, not noticing her sudden change in mood. "You've always been like that before. Every time I'd rescue you, you'd ask."

"Well, then, I guess it's because you haven't _rescued_ me yet," she says, surprised by the sharpness that's edged into her tone. But she has a right – he couldn't possibly think it's because she's _matured_, can he? _Nooo_, that'd be ridiculous! He doesn't notice her suddenly cool demeanor.

"Well, don't get captured just so you can ask," he says, and she fights the urge to roll her eyes.

"I was being sarcastic. Maybe I'm just…interested in someone else!"

The words slip out before she can even take the time to think about them. She almost claps her hands over her mouth – what did she just say? It's a _lie_, of course. She hasn't…moved on or anything, otherwise she wouldn't be angry with him right now for being so oblivious, right? He, in the meantime, has started chuckling.

"What?" she asks, annoyed, her temper starting to rise to the surface. "It's possible, you know."

_It's been a year now, and you haven't done anything to give me that much hope_, she adds silently. It _is_ possible.

"Sorry," he says, controlling himself with an unexpected spurt of tact. Her anger simmers and dies down slightly. She can't help but note how odd the word 'sorry' sounded coming from him. As far as she knew, he'd never apologized to anyone for anything before. Hmm.

"Are you serious about liking someone else?" he asks, and she's annoyed again with how casual the question is, like he could care less.

"Maybe," she says, smirking slightly. He doesn't look overly convinced, but he isn't laughing at her either.

"Why, would you –"

Before she can finish the question, a blur of light yellow skids to a halt in front of them.

"Working hard?" Shadow asks with a hint of sarcasm that almost makes Amy blush, then adds, "We've found a way in. I didn't want to shout it down the wall."

"Cool," Sonic says, giving him a thumbs-up, and zips down to the other end, where Knuckles is waiting by a newly-appeared hole in the rock wall. Apparently they had forced the door open. Shadow hesitates, and Amy takes advantage of it, suddenly remembering what she should have said before.

"Shadow, I never thanked you for saving me from that robot," she blurts out.

Is it her, or did his deadpan expression soften a bit at that?

"Sure," he says, "Anytime. But we should go…"

He indicates the others, who are moving towards the entrance. She nods and follows him as he jogs towards the rest of the group,

"About time," Sonic says, suddenly paying her as little attention as he would a rock. The nerve, and after all that talk, too! Fighting down the annoyance she feels, she follows them into the dark tunnel, her irritation sliding away and being replaced by a sudden nervousness.

But of course, that's to be expected. After all, they're walking right into the new not-so-hidden-anymore base of their greatest enemy. But for some reason, she feels like her heart is thumping almost excessively. She glances at Shadow, who's standing directly beside her, and he gives her a small, but reassuring smile.

Is it healthy for your heart rate to be this high? It can't be normal.

-

Shadow glances at Amy, who looks very nervous all of a sudden. That's fine – it's normal to be a little anxious about plunging into the depths of enemy lines. But she isn't looking around her worriedly, or really giving any notice at all to their surroundings. Her expression is somewhat unfocused, and it's obvious she's thinking about things besides what they're doing now.

Is it something Sonic said to her that's distracting her like this?

Why does he feel irritated with that possibility?

He'd ask her what she's looking that way for, if it wasn't imperative that they be silent for fear of detection. The only light is a few electric bulbs at well-spaced intervals throughout the tunnel, just enough for him to read her expression.

She's biting her lip, and staring at the ground. He tears his eyes away from her face, annoyed with himself for concentrating this much on her instead of where they're going. He's been paying more attention to her than to a lot of things lately. Strange…

"Here we go," Sonic says softly – a rare sign of discretion – and they find themselves looking at a metal door, with a dividing line down the middle where it would separate to allow robots through.

It'll be them going through instead of robots this time, he thinks as Knuckles pries them open, revealing a well lit – and deserted – chamber with an odd machine in the middle.

It's not unlike the cannon on ARK, Shadow decides, examining it curiously. But there are no niches for the Chaos Emeralds. In fact, it doesn't seem to have any power source at all. He frowns, noting that a section of the machine near the floor looks like it would slide up if the proper amount of force was applied.

It strikes him just how utterly abandoned the place looks. You'd think there'd be robots around, at least, if not the doctor. Just because Robotnik might have been expecting them to try coming in through the large and rather obvious door at the front doesn't mean that every robot would be there, waiting for them. That wouldn't be logical.

He casts another glance at the machine. Maybe Knuckles could pry open the door to the compartment on the side. He turns to call for him, but a loud, slick hiss, a gasp from Amy and a little yelp from Tails makes him whip around. His eyes go wide.

A section of the metal wall has slid away, revealing a large test tube full of an eerie green liquid, inside of which floats…an exact replica of Shadow.

Or at least, Shadow as he was in his old body. The black quills with red streaks float lifelessly in the green substance, and Shadow suspects that if the eyes were open, they'd be red like his had been not too long ago.

But what's a look-alike of him doing floating in Robotnik's base? And what the heck is that machine?

He would have given this more contemplation, but at that moment, while they're all distracted by the content of the large tube, a soft hissing sound breaks the heavy, confused silence that's descended on the group. Shadow glances around just in time to see a red dart embed itself in the back of Sonic's neck. Amy screams.

The blue hedgehog teeters, eyes drooping.

"Wha…?"

He collapses on the floor. An alarm starts blaring and red light engulfs the chamber. For a second all of them stand stock still, but then, as if they've all read each other's minds, they make a bolt for the door, Tails grabbing Sonic by way of the handy claw on the Tornado. Several more darts whip out of hidden niches in the walls. Shadow grabs Amy's arm and yanks her aside, the dart smacking into the wall where her neck would have been. A dart hits Tails, whose Tornado, although strong and multi-functional, is too slow to dodge things.

Amy gasps as Knuckles crumples. Robots pour into the room, the walls sliding up in areas to reveal doorways. Gunfire adds to the mayhem, and Shadow tugs a dumbstruck Amy out of range.

"Come on!" he calls over the noise, "Fight!"

Shaking, she whips out her hammer, and Shadow demolishes the first robot he can reach with a well-placed homing attack. With a loud clang, a dented, sparking robot smashes into another, sending them both tumbling to the floor in a pile of twisted metal.

But there are so many robots, and only two of them. And the darts keep flying. Another one finally hits its mark, and though Shadow is at Amy's side in a second and tugging the dart out of her neck, whatever was in it does its job. She droops, her eyes drifting shut.

"Amy!"

She passes out, and to his horror, he feels a sudden, painful prick in the side of his own neck. Instantly his limbs feel heavy, and it's hard to keep his eyes open. The action stops, and so does the alarm, although it might only be because the substance in the dart is dulling his senses. The room swims in front of him in a red haze. A dark shape casts a shadow over him as he sinks to the floor, and Robotnik's familiar chuckle fills his ears as he loses consciousness.


	9. The Soul Machine

**Edited November 22**

All canon characters belong to Sega.

_**Reincarnate  
**__**Chapter 9: The Soul Machine**_

The room takes its sweet time swimming back into focus in front of Amy's eyes. The first impression she has is of grey – a whole lot of grey. When her other senses start coming back to her, she registers the hard, cold surface she's lying on, and thus determines that she's lying on concrete. That can't be good.

Her head feels really heavy, and judging by all the problems she's having just struggling into a sitting position, her body must weigh a thousand pounds. But a quick self-examination quickly disproves that theory – she's her normal size and self.

Where's everybody else?

She sits bolt upright at the thought and instantly regrets it – her head throbs and her skeleton seems to cave in on itself. After a long minute, the dizziness ebbs and she feels a bit better. She looks around, her vision now completely clear.

She's alone in a cell, prevented from escaping by red lasers that crisscross the "door" of the tiny room: none of the gaps between them large enough for her to fit through. Not that she had been expecting escape to be so easy. She walks as close to the lasers as she dares and peers out through one of the openings.

It's not unlike the time she was held captive on the Egg Fortress. A long line of cells extend on either side of her, all blocked by lasers like her own. She cranes her neck, trying to see some of her friends. She can't see anyone – for all she can tell she's absolutely alone here.

If she was the type to curse without restraint, she'd be using every foul word she knew. She'd come this far just to be captured…again! What happened to independence? What happened to proving she's made of tougher stuff than she looks (because who'd think a pink, thirteen-year-old girl hedgehog could be fierce)? What happened to – wait.

There's always her hammer. She's surrounded by what looks like concrete. She's never tried busting through walls, but her hammer, despite its cheery color, is pretty sturdy. It's worth a shot, anyway. She whisks it out and sizes up the wall, preparing for a forceful swing.

Hard, metallic footsteps echo off the walls. She relaxes her stance, slides the hammer out of sight, and waits, hoping against hope that Tails somehow managed to get out and is coming for her.

No such luck. The robot's armor is black, and steely claws hang at the ends of its arms. A slot opens in what serves as its palm and a card slides out, which it slides through a lock on the side of the door. Amy smirks and prepares to yank out her hammer again. This'll be easy. She'll smash the robot, extract the card, and search for her friends. If she's lucky the card will work for their cells too, and she'll free them all!

The lasers deactivate around the door, her hand shoots towards her hammer –

But hard, metallic pincers crush her for the second time in too short a time period, clamping securely around her arms as well so she can't reach her weapon.

"Gah! Darn it!"

She struggles, but to no avail. She hadn't been expecting to wriggle out of the iron-hard grip anyway. The robot yanks her through the doorway and stumps off down the corridor and Amy counts one, two, three cells without lasers blocking the way out. She presumes that her friends had been fetched while she was still knocked out. But, hang on…

_Three cells…there were five of us. Who wasn't locked up?_

The robot carries her through several doorways and corridors, all made of some kind of metal and lit by lights activated by motion, meaning that while the area a few feet around them is brightly lit, the rest of the tunnel is dark. There are no doors in some of the halls. Amy's starting to get seriously creeped out by the time she and the robot emerge into a familiar chamber.

It's the one they reached through the outside tunnel! The odd-looking machine is still there, although this time it looks like it's turned on. Lights on it flicker randomly, and a faint humming fills the room.

The robot throws her away from it unexpectedly. She smacks against the wall and two claws shoot out of the wall around her, closing over her upper arms and torso, keeping her pressed against the wall and practically immobile.

"Oh, great," she snaps, wriggling unsuccessfully. A few doors on the other walls slide open, and three more robots enter, holding a struggling Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails in their claws. They're tossed against the wall and trapped like Amy is. She watches as Knuckles strains, but even he can't break through the iron holding them in place.

"You guys all right?" she asks, hating the high-pitched worry in her voice.

"Amy!" Tails says, apparently just spotting her. "You're okay! We didn't see you when the robots got us out of our cells."

"Yeah, I'm fine," she says, pleased that he was concerned. "You all right, Sonic, Knuckles?"

Sonic glances over at her and gives her a weak thumbs-up, unable to do it fully because his arms are pinned. Knuckles tosses her a curt nod and narrows his violet eyes at the machine in front of them.

"What's going on?" he asks, but no one knows, of course. The robots have left them alone.

"This is stupid," Sonic says. "We've got to get out of this and find Shadow. I didn't see him in a cell, either. Did you, Amy?"

"No," she says, the fact that there's only four of them just hitting her. She feels a wave of panic hovering near her, ready to swoop down. Shadow had tried to save her from the assault. He'd been the one to come to her rescue, who'd yelled for her when the dart hit…

She feels kind of good all of a sudden, despite the seriousness of the situation.

_Snap out of it,_ she warns herself. _This is _bad_. Where'd they take him?_

"Hang on," she hears Knuckles mutter, and then he lets out a roar of effort. With a creak, the claws holding him in place budge a bit, a small gap appearing between them. With a squirm and another heave, they pop open and Knuckles stumbles out.

"Heh," he says, a slight grin appearing on his face. "That wasn't so tough."

"Yeah, great," Sonic says. "How about getting the rest of us out of here?"

"I don't think that'll be necessary," a cold, but familiar voice says from the doorway. Their heads all swivel to see Robotnik enter the room, a smirk playing around his mouth despite the fact that Knuckles is free.

The reason for that becomes apparent when another robot zooms in through a door on the other side of the room, and though Knuckles spins around and aims a punch at it, he's still knocked back and the iron pincers clamp around him. The robot forces him against the wall again, beside Amy this time. The echidna blinks and starts to struggle, but another set of claws extend from the wall and clamp around his ankles, keeping him firmly in place. Knuckles curses and ceases struggling as Robotnik strides to the center of the room, laying a hand on the machine.

He hits a few buttons, and a section of the wall opposite Amy and her friends slides away, revealing not only the glass tube they saw earlier, but another one similar to it, in which floats…

"Shadow!" Amy gasps, and Robotnik raises an eyebrow, glancing at her.

"Exactly. I ran DNA tests on your friend to determine exactly who she – or, as it turns out, he – is, and can you imagine my surprise when I discovered that it's none other than the 'ultimate life form'. In a girl's body, too…strange, but it doesn't change the nature of the soul within."

"Whatever, Eggman," Sonic says derisively, as always refusing to take anything the doctor says seriously. "Think we're impressed?"

"Oh, you will be," Robotnik says with a smile that's more like a grimace. He walks towards them a few paces, waving a hand casually at the machine behind him.

"This," he announces, "Is a machine that will allow me unheard of power! Power greater than the Chaos Emeralds could offer, although once my plan is carried out they'll be recovered…and used to power weapons that I myself have created!"

The drama of the situation is lowered by a loud snort from Sonic.

"Yeah, sure," he chortles. "You and a plan that works – soon pigs will be flying, too."

"Silence, fool!" Robotnik snarls. "You won't be laughing once you become merely another energy source."

Amy's confused by now – Sonic as an energy source? She doesn't see how it can work. Luckily, Robotnik's love for bragging about his plans hasn't diminished, and he clasps his hands behind his back and draws a deep breath to fuel his explanation.

"I call this, my newest invention, the soul machine! It's vital to my plot, for you see, the invisible enemy you nearly faced in Station Square, the key to my plan to crush this planet, only functions if well-nourished by souls with a bit of character. Using this, I can extract your soul from your body, it will be consumed by my 'assistant', and you will all become nothing more than puppets that will do my will!"

Amy's jaw drops. Tails looks worried. Knuckle grits his teeth, and Sonic rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, sure."

"Sonic!" Amy says, her voice high and frightened, "I think he's telling the truth."

"Of course I am!" the doctor snaps. "All of you, with your good-doer souls, will be excellent fodder for my ultimate weapon! Still don't believe me? I'll show you…"

With a cackle, he fiddles with the machine, and with a flash of light and a spark, it starts. Amy gulps as a beam of light shoots out towards the tube containing Shadow's female body, still unsure as to whether or not it's all a big hoax. But if he really is going to do something to Shadow's soul…

"Wait!" she calls. "Why are you doing this? You helped us on ARK…what made you go back to this, this mad inventor thing?"

Robotnik casts her an amused glance over his bulky shoulder.

"You're still as naïve as ever," he says derisively. "You've forgotten that working with you fools was the only way I'd survive. Nothing's changed, and now Shadow's about to pay the price for your meddling in my affairs…again."

"But–"

"SILENCE!" he roars, and the pincer around her squeezes tighter. She squeals a little and falls silent, sudden tears threatening to appear. Shadow just wanted to try a normal life…maybe he shouldn't have stayed around people he already knew. She should have thought of it before, and now he's going to suffer because of it! Robotnik turns back to the machine with a smirk, and presses a few choice buttons. The beam of light glows brighter, and the hum intensifies, making their teeth rattle in their skulls. To her horror, something brilliant, something completely ethereal, emerges from Shadow's body. In the form of several glittering sparks, Shadow's soul is drawn out from his body. Robotnik laughs triumphantly.

"Yes!"

"Shadow!"

His soul, which had been moving steadily forward, stops and hovers midway between his body and the machine at Amy's shout. Suddenly the chamber starts to shake, and the hum rises until it's almost deafening.

"What?" Robotnik shouts over the noise, and starts pressing buttons and typing nonsense (in Amy's mind) into the machine. "What's happening?"

"Shadow…" Amy says again, softer. The vibration builds.

Light bursts out and shoots in all directions, accompanied by a sound like thunder. With a monstrous jolt, Amy is slammed further against the wall, and if the yelps and grunts of pain beside her are anything to go by, so are her friends. The iron prison around her breaks, she hears the tubes shatter, as if in a distant dream. She slides to the floor as the light dies, and she opens her eyes a crack to see the green liquid pouring onto the floor and glittering shards of glass raining down onto the grey stone. A dark shape hovers a few feet above the ground, engulfed in light.


	10. Amy's Voice

**Edited November 22 **

All canon characters belong to Sega.

_**Reincarnate**_

_**Chapter 10: Amy's Voice**_

_Shadow, what do you think it's like on Earth?_

"Shadow!"

_A girl stumbles into the chamber on ARK, her heavy breathing audible even over the commotion outside the heavy metal doors that have just slid shut. She's hurt…sinking to her knees by the control panel near the center of the room. Her eyes are shut in pain, her hands shaking as they support her, gripping the edges of the machine._

_Maria…_

_The scene seems to flicker, and rewind, back to when she enters the room. Except this time it's not the same girl, in fact, she isn't even human. But her eyes are wide and scared, too, as she enters the chamber, her eyes finding him immediately. Green eyes…pink fur._

"Shadow…"

_For all the people…on that planet…_

_The scenes are becoming jumbled in his mind. Maria…Amy…a girl glances back at him over her shoulder, her hair going from blonde to pink, her eyes changing from a vivid blue to a startling emerald green._

_Amy and Maria._ _That voice, soft and gentle, calling him back. Fifty years ago, that same voice bid him goodbye._

_Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog. _

_She'd saved him, given him the chance she couldn't have. Then later, she did it again, this time so he could redeem himself. And now…she's asking him to return. Amy._

_What do you think it's like on Earth?_

_Earth…he pictures the brief period he's spent with Amy, and then with her friends again. Amy, smiling at him, talking with him. Amy, fighting alongside him, being brave to help them all. To him, Amy was Earth – she'd convinced him to help on ARK, after all. She'd been the proof to him that people there were worth fighting for, because she wasn't seeking to destroy him, like the soldiers had been on that awful day. She was worried about her friends, and she had trusted him, had faith that he'd be able to help them all. _

_If Amy is his Earth, then Earth is beautiful._

_He wakes._

Even as he opens his eyes, he's still suspended in the air, slowly sinking back down to the ground. He can sense the destruction before he sees it, and when he lands, he hears the faint 'plip' that indicates he's landed in some kind of liquid. His eyes slowly adjust to the relative dimness of the chamber after all the blinding light, and he can see that he's standing in a shallow pool of some kind of green substance.

His eyes sweep around the room, taking it all in with a swift glance. There's no sign of Robotnik – he must have fled. But Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy are all on the ground. He hurries over to them as they stir. Sonic is the first to recover, hoisting himself to his feet and tilting his head to stretch out his neck.

"Phew," he mutters. "That was intense."

Knuckles gets slowly to his feet and shakes a gloved hand, sending small droplets of the green liquid scattering towards the floor. He doesn't say a word, although Shadow can see understanding in his amethyst eyes. He realizes that they had never told Knuckles who he was, and the Guardian hadn't asked. However, he seemed to have figured it out on his own.

"Shadow?"

He bends down and surveys Amy, who has sat up and is staring at him in shock. He offers a hand to her, and she uses it to pull herself up. She stands and brushes off her dress, looking him over.

"You're…you again. In your old body," she observes, smiling slightly at him. "When your soul escaped from the machine…I guess it went to this body."

"Good thing," Sonic says and grins at him. "This is a lot less weird."

"Interesting, though," Tails says, his twin tails waving about as they always did when he was thinking hard. "I wonder why your soul would go into this body. I would've thought it would choose the other, since that's the one it had been in since you were…brought back."

In the back of his mind, Shadow suspects that it has something to do with Amy, and with his memories. He doesn't say it out loud, though, and the group doesn't waste time speculating.

"We need to get out of here," Knuckles reminds them. "There's still that other monster to contend with."

But before any of them can respond, Robotnik's voice penetrates the chamber.

"Meddlesome fools! Don't think you'll be escaping so easily!"

They all glance up and see the speakers on the walls. Sonic groans softly and rolls his eyes. "Not again…"

Amy moves a little closer to Shadow, eyes trained on the speaker and mouth falling into a worried frown. Robotnik clears his throat loudly and snarls, "You won't even manage to make it out of that chamber! Perhaps you've forgotten a little something? The soul is drawn from the body, which then falls under _my_ control!"

As one, the group turns and stares at Shadow's temporary form. The iron clasps around her wrists and ankles snap off, and she steps away from the wall, her head lifting. Shadow feels an icy shiver trail down his spine – the eyes of his temporary body are colored, but completely and eerily blank.

"Eggman, you idiot," Sonic says through a laugh. "There are five of us and one of her. Do you really think – "

Before he can finish the sentence, the soulless body curls into a swiftly rotating blur, and shoots towards him in a flash of pale yellow. Sonic jumps aside just in time, and the girl uncoils herself and skids to a halt briefly before repeating the attack, even faster this time.

"Hahahahaha!" Robotnik's laughter blares over the speakers again as they jump out of the way to avoid the spiny assault. "Nothing you can do will stop her – I have complete control. She'll continue to attack even through pain, quickly enough to incapacitate you all! Then, she'll finish you off with no regrets! She can be likened to a very lifelike robot."

"You monster!" Amy snaps, whipping out her hammer. "She can feel pain and you'll still make her fight?"

An amused chuckle is the only answer, and she turns to Sonic.

"I don't feel right attacking her," she calls as they jump around the room, dodging the attacks of the girl. "She has no control over it!"

"She doesn't have control over anything," Sonic says, avoiding a homing attack, "If Eggman wasn't controlling her, she probably wouldn't even be able to move!"

"Then focus on subduing her," Knuckles says, thrusting out an arm to knock her aside briefly, "So we don't have to hurt her first."

_Subdue he_r? The girl narrowly misses Shadow – he can hear the air whistling between her spines, and feel the breeze her movement creates. How can they do that when they have to avoid her attacks, too? They'd need a sedative or…

His eyes snap up and meet Amy's, and in a flash of understanding they both know what they need.

"Keep her away from me for a second," Amy calls, and starts running across the room, her hammer out.

"Amy, what – "

Sonic's question is cut off as the girl collides with him, sending him toppling backwards into Tails. Amy's hammer slams against the ground and propels her into the air, and she prepares to swing at a section of the wall where she remembers a small gun being. Inside it are the darts Robotnik had used to knock them out when they had first arrived. She strikes at the stone, and it cracks. It doesn't break, though, and she drops to the ground with an ungraceful thump. She jogs back across the room, aiming at the same spot, glancing fearfully over at Sonic, who's grappling with the girl.

_Come on, Amy_, Shadow urges her on mentally as he skids to a halt by Sonic. The girl clamps her hands around the blue hedgehog's throat, but doesn't apply pressure. Her eyes flicker, and she sways slightly. Her mouth moves, and a harsh guttural sound comes out. Another crack of Amy's hammer on the stone. The girl inhales sharply, her fingers digging into the soft fur around Sonic's neck. She opens her mouth again.

"Kill…me…" she says, her voice a harsh, croaky whisper. Shadow's breath catches in his throat.

_She…can't be…alive?_

-

_Just one more hit! _Amy sprints full-tilt towards the section of the wall that she's nearly shattered. She slams her hammer against the ground and is airborne again. _Hold on, guys – I've got it!_

Finally, with a satisfying shattering sound, the stone crumbles away. A twisted hunk of metal, barely recognizable as the dart gun, tumbles out, and with it fall a few full darts. Tails springs into the air and flies over to her.

"I'll do it," he says, and Amy gratefully relinquishes the weapon. The young fox rushes back over to where Sonic is working to pry the girl's hands off his throat, and sticks the dart in the back of her neck. Immediately her grip relaxes, and she stumbles away, swaying dangerously. After a moment she sinks to the floor, knocked out, her body no longer responding to Robotnik's demands.

Sonic, Knuckles, and Shadow are all looking pale.

"She isn't…just a husk," Knuckles says softly, the steadiest of the three. He looks down at the motionless girl with unmistakable pity. The implications of this don't have time to register with Amy.

"We need to get going," Sonic says, his voice uncharacteristically soft. He glances down at the unconscious girl, and starts jogging towards the tunnel they had used to get in. As Amy ducks into the now pitch-black tunnel just after Shadow, she hears the crackle of the speakers. Robotnik's voice carries through the tunnel.

"Enough of this! You'll never make it out of the boundaries of this fortress alive!"

The group only increases speed. Knuckles slams the metal doors at the end of the tunnel open with a few punches, sending the twisted hunks of steel flying outward onto the rocky ground. The five of them burst out of the tunnel a second later and start running full-tilt towards the Tornado.

A shadow falls over them from behind, and they slow automatically, turning around to see what it is.

But all they can see is the mountain fortress they've just left, although a huge, invisible something is somewhere in front. Externally, Amy's face is like stone, but on the inside she's panicking.

_How can you fight something that you can't see? _

With a sound between a roar and a scream, something invisible yet as hard as a rock slams against them and sends them scattering. Robotnik's laughter echoes throughout the area.


	11. Ghost Dragon

**Edited November 24 **

All canon characters belong to Sega.

_**Reincarnate**_

_**Chapter 11: Ghost Dragon**_

Amy skids helplessly along the ground, her breath knocked clean out of her by whatever had struck her. She rolls over, gradually slowing, and finally slides to a slow halt, blinded by debris. She lies there for a minute or so, her body feeling like one big bruise, and then painfully rubs her eyes and blinks rapidly to clear her vision.

The cloud of dirt in the air settles, and she can make out her friends sprawled out in all directions. Sonic is getting to his feet, Shadow is sitting up, and Knuckles is already standing, fists up and eyes darting around in a hopeless attempt to find their enemy.

A groan sounds from behind her, and she turns around and sees Tails lying a few meters away from her, twin tails fluttering weakly.

"Tails?" she asks, her voice hoarse and weak. She clears her throat and speaks again. "Tails, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah…" the fox says faintly, and with the aid of his spinning tails manages to stand up. Amy gets to her feet too, automatically brushing off her dress, although it's a stupid gesture.

"Amy," Tails says decisively, "Get in the Tornado so you don't get hurt. I think I know why this thing's invisible."

"Hey!" she says, a little offended. "I can fight just like everyone else."

"Just stick with me for now, okay? None of us will have a chance unless we can see this thing. And you know you're not used to fighting really tough enemies – you're just not as strong as the others."

She bites back a retort, taking in the truthfulness of this statement. He does have a point – she wouldn't last nearly as long as Shadow, Sonic, or Knuckles could. She scrambles up into the Tornado after Tails obediently, and he looks a little relieved.

"Okay," he mutters to himself. "Up we go."

The jets ignite, and they rise straight up. Tails fiddles with the controls, and a bright blue beam shoots out of the plane and, miraculously, strikes something large and solid.

The invisible beast roars in pain, and the air hisses as something flies towards them. Tails hurriedly steers the Tornado to the right, and Amy feels the strong breeze as whatever came at them misses narrowly.

"I think I hit its side," Tails says, his voice shaky from the near miss. "This is going to be tough."

"What are you aiming for?" Amy shouts over the roar of the engines.

"Either its back or its head – one of them will solve our problem," he tells her as another laser charges.

"Why those spots?"

"Do you remember the Biolizard?"

Of course she does – that whole incident has been on her mind for the past few days, what with Shadow's return. She nods affirmatively, and Tails continues, "When Shadow was first fighting it, its vulnerable spot was on its back. Now, I'm guessing, since Eggman created this himself and he wants the most powerful monster possible, that he used the Biolizard prototype as a model and then made a few adjustments."

"Oh! So that's why you're aiming at the back. Got it."

"Right. I think the only reason this thing is invisible is because of some kind of cloaking device, which is located on its body somewhere. The most obvious spots would be on its back or on its head, so we'll see if they work."

The laser is fully charged and Tails releases it. This one doesn't go quite so well – it only skims the thing instead of striking it, tracing a scorching trail along its spine without doing any actual damage.

"Shoot," Tails mutters. "It would be so much easier if we could at least see the outline of this thing."

Amy snaps her fingers.

"What about dust? If there's enough, it should coat it and we'd still have a general idea of where everything was…"

Tails looks at her in some surprise.

"That could work…if Sonic and Shadow are fast enough, they might be able to stir up a lot of dirt."

He frowns suddenly and shakes his head.

"But there wouldn't be enough," he says, sounding disappointed. "This thing is a lot bigger than we are. The most we'd be able to see is its legs and underbelly. We still wouldn't have any idea how big it is, or where its head's going."

Amy slumps, deflated at the rejection of her idea, and says, "What are we going to do? You can't just keep firing random shots – it takes too long and there's no guarantee that you'll hit it."

"Look," Tails says, ignoring her comment. "What's Knuckles up to?"

The echidna stands out as a small red spot on the side of the mountain, climbing steadily upwards and occasionally glancing over in the general location of the monster, which is preoccupied with keeping Sonic and Shadow away as they perform repeated homing attacks on its legs and belly. Several times the air screams as something large, which Amy assumes must be its tail, whips around in hopes of knocking them away.

"Hey, there he goes," Amy announces unnecessarily as Knuckles jumps away from the rock, gliding around in slow circles before –

"He's got it!" Tails exclaims as the echidna drives his sharp knuckles into…well, something. The monster roars again, and Knuckles is jerked around in the air as it thrashes, trying to dislodge him. The scene would be comical if it wasn't so serious.

"I think he's on its neck," Tails says, watching Knuckles' movements closely. The echidna was climbing up this invisible something as though it were a rock wall, driving his fists into it whenever he could.

Finally, with a sharp crack and a flash of light, he hits something that sounds like metal. With a screech and a sound like silk tearing, he is thrown off the beast completely. He glides to safety, looking a bit dazed but unharmed.

And his actions have had massive results.

The cloak around the beast is deactivated, and it finally becomes visible. Amy gapes at its odd appearance.

It does look like the Biolizard, but considerably larger, and its skin is a vivid electric blue. Just underneath its surface, ripples are forming and dying away, testaments to the countless souls that are powering it. In some spots where the spirits are particularly active, its skin takes on the look of oil in the sun, what with the rainbow of colors that are produced.

And, just as Tails predicted, there is a pulsing, gemlike section on its back, a deeper blue than the rest of the creature.

"That's its weak point," Tails says, sounding satisfied.

"I wonder how Knuckles knew what to do," Amy muses, and Tails shrugs.

"Guardian intuition? It doesn't really matter – he's turned the tables for us. Here we go…"

He lets another, fully charged laser fly towards the shimmering point on its back, and Amy tenses in anticipation of the hit and consequential roar. It doesn't come.

Halfway through the laser's flight, the beast's head whips around on its long, sinewy neck, and it opens a mouth full of glimmering fangs.

It swallows the laser whole, absorbing it without so much as flinching. Amy gasps and Tails makes a choking sound.

"H-how?" he sputters. "Even if that isn't its weak point, it shouldn't be able to do that!"

Robotnik's laughter crackles over the speakers again, and Amy groans.

"Idiots!" The doctor taunts gleefully. "Behold the Ghost Dragon, an improvement on my grandfather's design! You may have destroyed its cloaking device…but you still have no chance of winning! None of your attacks will even come close to damaging it – it's too powerful."

Tails swings the Tornado around, spiraling slowly towards the ground again.

"Tornado transforming," he announces dully, and with a series of gears shifting and metal clanking against metal, the robot form of the machine lands on the ground. Amy hops out and jogs over to where Sonic and Shadow are standing a safe distance away from the monster, watching the movements beneath the Dragon's skin.

"Hey, Amy," Sonic says, glancing up at her arrival. "There you are."

"Are you all right?" Shadow asks, tearing his gaze away from the Dragon to look at her with some concern.

"I'm fine, just…how the heck are we supposed to hurt this thing?"

"I think I know," Shadow says, "But I'm not sure how we're supposed to do it. We'll need Tails for the technical part. I was just telling Sonic…if the soul machine can suck souls in and out, there should be a way to get them out as well."

"Yeah," Sonic says, taking over. "If the souls are what power the Dragon, then without them it won't stand a chance. It might even shut down on its own and we won't have to worry about resistance while we destroy it."

"That _is_ a good idea," Amy said. "Do you want me to get Tails?"

"Nah, I'll do it," Sonic says, and zips off fast enough to make Amy and Shadow's quills blow around in the resulting breeze.

"I guess he _would_ get there faster," Amy offers up lamely. Shadow gives her a small half-smile.

"Hey, Shadow," she asks, suddenly remembering how his borrowed form had spoken earlier, "What was up with the girl inside the fortress? I thought you were the only soul in that body."

Shadow lifts a shoulder.

"I was," he says thoughtfully. "The disturbance that was caused when I resisted the machine's pull probably allowed another soul out, and it must have entered the only soulless body in the vicinity – that one."

"That's strange…and kind of sad. What do you think will happen to the souls once they're freed from the Dragon?"

"They'll be sucked back into the machine," he says, obviously thinking about it as he speaks, "And…I'm guessing that we'll release them and they'll find their way back to their bodies on their own. This is just an assumption, but I think that the reason I took on the body that I did was because she was one of the first victims of the doctor's machine."

"So her body was free for your soul, and once we release the other souls from the machine hers will be able to go back into her body."

"That's right."

"I guess it makes sense. Uh…Shadow?"

"Yes?"

"Are you…glad you came back?"

He doesn't get a chance to answer, but looks over as Sonic comes back, wearing his trademark confident grin.

"Tails says he can take care of it," the cobalt hedgehog announces. "He's on the way. Meanwhile, I think we should keep our distance. We won't be doing any damage until the thing's weaker, anyway."

"Right," Shadow agrees, and Amy nods.

"Where's Knuckles?" she asks, suddenly realizing that she hasn't seen him in a while. Sonic looks around, shrugging as he does so.

"Who knows – knowing him, he's probably still trying to attack this thing."

"Not exactly," a deep voice says sardonically from behind them, and Sonic's grin weakens.

"Hey, Knuckles," he says somewhat nervously. "All right over there?"

The echidna shakes his head in mild exasperation and says, "Let's just go a little farther away and wait this thing out."

"Right, right," Sonic says hurriedly, and they move out as a group. Shadow grabs Amy's hand, and whether it's a gesture of affection or just a means to tug her along faster, it sends a zinging sensation all the way up her arm. Behind them, the Dragon roars. They quicken their pace.

_Hurry, Tails_, she urges the fox inwardly. They charge up a hill and turn around, watching and waiting.


	12. Sky Battle

**Edited November 24 **

All canon characters belong to Sega.

_**Reincarnate**_

**_Chapter 12: Sky Battle_**

Shadow doesn't release Amy's hand once they reach the crest of the hill. From their high vantage point, the group waits anxiously for some sign of Tails.

Minutes pass, and then there's an explosion by the disguised front entrance to the base. The rock wall blasts apart, sending fiery chunks of rock and metal everywhere. The Ghost Dragon rears up on its back legs and emits its strange screaming roar as it's struck by several burning fragments of the wall.

_So_, Shadow muses, _it can feel pain._

In the midst of the fiery blast a dark shape appears, approaching them quickly. Once it clears the field of debris it becomes recognizable as Tails' Tornado, and Shadow feels Amy slump in relief beside him. Tails transforms the Tornado so that it's in its walking form and lands.

"Are you okay?" Amy asks as she runs over, craning her neck to see the orange fox in the massive machine.

"I'm fine," Tails says with a grin, "And I think my slight reconfiguration of the Soul Machine should become noticeable any minute now. All we need to do is stand clear while it takes effect."

"You did good, Tails," Sonic says approvingly, and the fox beams. No matter what, Tails will probably always appreciate any praise from his hero and mentor.

"Look at that," Knuckles says, and they all turn back towards the Ghost Dragon.

It has suddenly gone still, its translucent blue skin shimmering strangely, like something within it is starting to stir.

And then there's a sound like a gust of wind, which quickly turns into a roar. The Dragon begins to glow with an ethereal blue light, and the rippling under its skin becomes a wave. It cranes its long neck back and opens its mouth to howl, but as soon as its jaws open a tidal wave of souls pour out.

Shadow's mouth drops open – it's like nothing he's ever even dreamed of. Each soul is in the form of glittering sparks in all conceivable colors, and they pour out of the Ghost Dragon with a mind-numbing speed, going off in all directions once freed and filling the air with a strange, unearthly light.

"Wow," Amy says softly beside him, and he can only hear her over the clamor because she's so close. Some part of his mind notes that she's still gripping his hand, not giving any intention of wanting to let go. He makes no effort to release her hand, either.

And suddenly it all stops. The light fades, and Shadow blinks a few times in the sudden darkness. He's startled to see that most of the mountain sheltering Robotnik's fortress is charred and broken. Debris is scattered everywhere.

"I don't think that was just from the explosion earlier," Tails says.

"It's because of the souls, right?" Amy asks. "There was a lot of power in their release – they must have destroyed the mountain fortress as they poured out."

"Makes sense," Sonic says. "Wonder how Buttnick held up through all of that."

"He'll have found some way to survive it," Shadow says darkly. "He's good at that."

As if to confirm this statement, there is a crackling over the invisible speakers, and Robotnik's voice blares over the ruins.

"You fools! You think you've won?"

Shadow frowns in the direction of the voice. They've just removed all the souls from the Ghost Dragon's body – it should no longer be able to function. Unless Robotnik has another ultimate weapon, there is nothing left that they can't fight.

"Perhaps I forgot to mention," the doctor continues, "That the souls act as something of a charger for the Dragon's 'battery' – it's life force. Even without the souls, it will be able to function long enough to destroy the lot of you, and then I can always reconstruct the Soul Machine at my leisure!"

"Are you kidding?" Sonic complains loudly, and they look down at the limp form of the Dragon. It shudders, its skin looking dull with the removal of the souls, but doesn't rise.

"Perhaps the force of the souls' exit damaged it," Shadow suggests hopefully. "If that's the case, then we have nothing to worry about."

But after a few moments of silence, the Dragon rises. Silver eyes bright with pain sweep lift and right as it gets its balance, long claws digging into the rocky ground with the ease of a knife slipping through butter.

"HAHAHAHAHA! I told you it is indestructible! You'll be forced to fight – it's spotted you."

Sure enough, the glinting eyes had landed in the group huddled together at the top of the hill. With its eerie roar, it crouches down as if preparing to spring.

There is a sudden flurry of activity near its shoulder blades. The skin stretches and bulges as the Dragon's muscles strain, long teeth bared in its effort. With a loud ripping sound and a cackle of triumph from Robotnik, huge wings spring from the Dragon's shoulders. They're a dark blue with a web of silvery veins all along their surface, and they stretch out until they're twice the size of the monster itself. The Dragon, still crouched, leaps into the air.

It's a powerful jump that carries it several dozen feet upwards, an astonishing feat for something so enormous and heavy. Its wings unfold entirely, gleaming in the lights from the fortress, and with powerful beats the Dragon keeps itself aloft. Shadow's eyes are drawn irresistibly towards its glittering claws, each of which are insanely long and thick with fine points, as are the Dragon's teeth.

"Everyone in the Tornado," Sonic says. "We're going to need Tails' firepower to take this thing down."

"But Sonic," Amy protests, "Nothing we do can hurt it!"

"Not if we hit its skin," Tails explains, "But I'm willing to bet that that thing on its back will be pretty vulnerable. I think I'll be able to keep us out of danger long enough to charge up my lasers, which I can shoot at its power source."

"Hurry," Sonic adds, eyeing the Dragon. "It's going to come towards us any minute.

They pile into the plane, and Tails takes to the air. Taking this as its cue, the Dragon surges forward with a roar. Shadow hears a hum below them and figures that Tails has begun powering up his laser. As long as the twin-tailed fox can keep out of the way of whatever the Dragon does to attack them long enough, a couple fully-charged shots at the life source on the Dragon's back should be enough to take it down.

Tails starts to move in a wide arc around the Dragon, which uses its long tail in an endeavor to strike the plane down. Tails dodges its attempts fairly easily, the humming underneath the plane growing louder every second.

"Almost ready," the fox says over his shoulder, and swoops out of the way of the Dragon's tail, which hisses through the air like a long, thick whip.

Tails succeeds in getting around the back of the monster, and with a huge flash of light the laser is released.

With a hideous cracking sound like bone breaking, the laser connects with the life source on the Dragon's back. It howls and writhes in midair, and it takes some fancy maneuvering from Tails to avoid getting hit by its thrashing tail and wings.

"Well," Sonic says after a moment, "I think that's definitely its weak point."

There's a scatter of nervous laughter, the tension easing a bit. Tails begins charging another laser, keeping to the back of the Dragon.

"A few more hits should do it," Tails says, avoiding the tail as it whips in their direction again. "It's a lot weaker without the souls powering it."

"Look out!" Amy shrieks, and Tails pulls up just in time to avoid the Dragon's teeth. It had whipped its neck around and tried to bite down on the plane – they had gone too close when avoiding its tail. Shaken, the members of the group collect themselves.

In the next minute, Tails has unleashed another laser, which hits home and actually causes the Dragon to descend weakly, wings straining to keep it aloft.

"Looks like the doctor overestimated his creation's abilities," Shadow remarks, watching as the Dragon pulls itself back up to their level with a massive effort, eyes now a dull grey rather than the gleaming silver they were before.

"Don't get cocky!"

Robotnik's voice fills the air, sounding livid. "You haven't seen half of its power!"

"Give it a rest," Sonic mutters, "It's getting weaker by the second. He's bluffing."

Shadow agrees with him mentally – without its power source the Ghost Dragon is remarkably weaker. Apparently Robotnik thought its "battery" would last a lot longer than it actually is.

"Full power," Tails announces, excitement clear in his voice. He starts to circle around the Dragon, which hasn't been attacking but rather concentrating on keeping itself airborne, when the Dragon swings around abruptly to face them.

A strange glow appears in its abdominal region, seeming to come from inside it, and quickly spreads from its middle to its neck, and then it snaps its head forward and opens its mouth.

A brilliant jet of light shoots towards them faster than any of them can comprehend, and Tails doesn't jerk to the side fast enough. The ray of energy connects with the side of the Tornado and sends them spinning out of control, plummeting towards the ground. Amy cries out and clamps her eyes shut, and Shadow throws and arm around her, preparing to jump out of the plane if Tails can't recover.

But Tails regains control, pulling up sharply. Amy opens her eyes, pale with fright, and sags against him. Shadow finds himself squeezing her lightly in reassurance, and glances up at the rest of the group. All of them look rattled, but no one is harmed.

"Whoa," Tails says after a minute. "That was pretty close."

"You said it, buddy," Sonic says, looking a bit sick. "Too close."

"But my laser's still charged," the kitsune said. "We just need to get around the back of the Dragon again and we'll win."

"It shouldn't be hard," Knuckles says, amethyst eyes narrowing as he studies the Dragon. "That attack was powerful, but it's taken its toll."

It's true: the Dragon looks weaker than ever. Unable to stay in the air, it starts to glide towards the ground, looking weary.

"It's going to shut down," Tails says, and closes in behind it. With another brilliant flash of light, the fox releases the laser, which streaks towards the weak point on the Dragon's exposed back. It hits just as the Dragon lands, and instead of another roar the group is rewarded with a blinding flash of blue light and a loud crack. When the light fades, there is nothing left of the Ghost Dragon but a charred spot on the rocky ground and a shower of glittering blue dust that disappears as it falls towards the ground.

Victory.


	13. The Release

**Edited January 2**

All characters belong to Sega.

_**Reincarnate**_

_**Chapter 13: The Release**_

Despite the defeat of the Ghost Dragon, the group in the Tornado is silent as Tails begins to descend, spiraling towards the rocky ground and landing near the blackened crater. Robotnik has fallen silent, but Amy is willing to bet that he is preparing to flee at this very moment. Apparently Sonic shares her view, because he says, "Come on – if we hurry we might be able to catch Eggman before he escapes."

With that he takes off at a sprint towards the heavily damaged fortress, the rest of them following as closely as they are able. Amy hops over the rubble, all that remains of what was once the entrance to Robotnik's mountain base, and stays close to Shadow as they enter the dark chamber where the Soul Machine sits, inactive except for a few blinking lights and the glow of the monitor. Is it just her, or has the black hedgehog slowed down a little so that she can keep pace? Suddenly she becomes aware of a distant clanking sound, but even as she opens her mouth to say something about it Sonic hears it too and moves off to the left.

They go as quickly and quietly as they can, and the sounds get louder and more persistent. Then, as they enter a wide corridor made of metal, which rattles under their feet, the clanking stops. In the sudden, eerie silence that descends, Amy feels a shudder trail down her spine. She is overwhelmed by the sensation that they are not alone here…

Without warning a section of the wall at the end of the corridor slides up, and Robotnik, now sitting in his own version of Tails' Tornado, walks – or clanks, rather – through. It explains the sound, at least. Sonic steps forward.

"Trying to escape, eh? Well, you're not going anywhere, Eggman," he says, easing into an attack stance.

"Wrong," the doctor says with a horrible smirk. "I believe you're the ones who won't be leaving. You may have defeated the Dragon, but you're forgetting I have other weapons on my hands, weapons you would most certainly hesitate to destroy."

The memory of the pale yellow hedgehog flashes in Amy's mind, and as it does several more doors between the group and the evil doctor slide up, and an assortment of people file into the hallway, quickly creating a living barrier between Robotnik and the others. They range in species from human to mouse, but all of them have the same wide, blank eyes.

"Hahahahaha! Destroy them!"

And the wall of creatures surges forward, hands, paws, and claws alike outstretched. As Amy whips out her Piko-Piko hammer, she sees Robotnik's machine fold up into the familiar hovercraft. A second later he has disappeared, and in her distraction a dark-furred dog has seized the opportunity to lunge towards her. Sharp nails dig into her shoulder and abdomen, and with a cry of pain she brings her hammer down on its shoulder. With a loud crack, the canine staggers and drops, and then someone has a hand clamped firmly around her wrist and is dragging her backwards. After a brief moment of panic, she realizes that it's Shadow who is dragging her away.

"Come on," he says urgently. "We need to get back to the machine!"

"What?"

She allows him to drag her back through the maze of hallways that had gotten them to the wide metal corridor.

"The machine," Shadow repeats. "Tails reconfigured it so that it would draw the souls back in."

Of course!

"Oh!" she exclaims. "I get it – you want to release those souls! Then the doctor won't be able to control those people anymore."

"Exactly."

The two of them burst into the dark room and run over to the Soul Machine. Shadow glances at the complicated rows of buttons and switches, and at the assorted numbers and letters on the screen.

"How the heck are we supposed to know how to let the souls out?" Amy groans after a long moment of trying unsuccessfully to figure out what to do. "We don't have much time!"

Shadow glances at her, the gleam of an idea in his scarlet eyes. "Who says we need to know? The souls are all here, so why not just open the machine by force?"

"Sounds good to me," Amy says, a small grin spreading over her face in spite of the seriousness of the situation, and takes aim with her hammer. The first punishing blow sends up a shower of sparks, but to her dismay hardly leaves a dent. She slams her hammer into the machine again, even harder this time, but still only leaves the slightest of marks.

"Looks like he thought ahead," Shadow muses. "Perhaps…stand back, Amy."

The pink hedgehog quickly scuttles over to the side. Shadow closes his eyes, no doubt concentrating furiously as energy begins to crackle in the air around him. His eyes snap open and he barks, "Chaos Spear!" The power that has been building up, which was enough to make the air in the chamber hum, is released, and strikes the slightly damaged spot on the machine with a devastating force. With a crack and a burst of light, the exterior of the machine splits wide apart. A barely perceptible pause, and then a torrent of souls pours out of the machine. They swirl around, forming something resembling a whirlwind, and then speed off in the direction of the battle, Shadow and Amy following in their wake.

A minute later they're sprinting into the corridor, the metal rattling loudly under their footfalls. Amy breathes an explosive sigh of relief to see that the fighting has halted. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, all with their share of bruises and scratches (Tails had, no doubt, been the target of the animals that could fly thanks to his machine, which would have kept him safe from grounded creatures), but none of them looking seriously harmed, look over at their arrival. The rest of the hall's occupants are all standing absolutely still, staring into space. Then, quite suddenly, life floods back into their eyes and they look around in confusion and fear, confused babble filling the space.

"What happened?"

"Where are we?"

"My shoulder…"

Amy recognizes the dog whose shoulder she had hit with her hammer. Pacing over to him, she says, "I'm sorry – we can explain all this!"

"EVERYONE!" Sonic yells, cupping his hands around his mouth to serve as a makeshift megaphone. At the sight of the famous hero, the crowd quiets down, and Amy marvels at the faith people must put in Sonic, if his mere presence is enough to ensure them that things are in order.

"Er…" It seems Sonic hadn't expected anyone to listen. "If you'll just listen for a minute, I think we can explain what you're all doing here. See, what happened was…"

And he recounts everything that had occurred, from Robotnik building the Soul Machine to the battle with the Ghost Dragon, and then explains the short but intense fight here in the corridor.

"So to all of you with injuries, we're sorry," Amy interjects. "Of course we didn't want to hurt any of you, but we had to defend ourselves while we got your souls out of the machine. We'll make sure you get treated right away."

"Right," Sonic says with a nod. There is a general murmur of forgiveness.

"And now," Tails calls over the increase in volume, "I think we should all get outside the fortress. I've just contacted the police, and they're coming with vans and the like to take everybody home."

Sonic, Amy, Tails, Shadow, and Knuckles all lead the way out of the fortress. The crowd stands outside, looking around, and within minutes the sound of engines becomes audible.

"Look!" someone calls, pointing up. A group of helicopters is drawing nearer, and soon vans appear in the distance as well. In ten minutes the group has been organized into injured and uninjured, the former being transported to hospitals by way of the helicopters, and the others piling into the vans. Someone clears their throat from behind the group of five, and they turn as one.

The pale yellow hedgehog, whose body Shadow had occupied for a brief time, is smiling at them all.

"Thank you so much for saving us all," she says, her green eyes exuding warmth. "And I'm sorry if I attacked any of you…I can't really remember anything that happened."

"It's cool," Sonic says, and the rest of them nod. The girl looks over at the helicopters and says, "I have to go. I just wanted to thank you before I left."

"No problem," Tails says, and the girl waves, turning away.

"Wait a minute," Amy calls, suddenly curious. "What's your name?"

"Maria," the girl calls over her shoulder, and then is led away by a man in uniform. Amy looks at Shadow, unsure of what to say, but to her relief his expression is one of peace, carrying no traces of painful memories.

"Tornado transforming," Tails says, breaking the silence, and once it has become the plane they all pile in, Amy no longer feeling annoyed in the slightest at being slightly crowded against Shadow, whose arm has found its way around her. No, not annoyed in the least…

-

Two days later, Amy's suitcase is packed and impeccably organized as usual. She is sitting on the train heading back towards Station Square and her own home. She can't help but be both happy and sad to be leaving, but she knows it's the right thing to do. Shadow, too, is leaving, off to see what he can of the world in this, his second chance at life. She has come to realize just what a beautiful and special gift it was for Shadow to be able to come back and be able to live again – a chance probably given only to those who need, or possibly deserve, it the most. She smiles at the memory of her departure.

"_Well," she said awkwardly, standing at the bottom of the porch steps outside Tails' lab. Shadow, who had ignored her protests and was holding her suitcase for her, just looked back at her, his expression unreadable. _

_In the past, she would have left the lab when Sonic had the day before, chasing him over the Green Hill Zone, perhaps, intent on making him hers forever. Funny how something like that could change in so short a time, but at least they had parted on good terms. Better, actually, than was the norm. She had nothing to complain about at all as far as her hero (and yes, he was still her hero even if he wasn't the object of her affections any longer) was concerned. _

_But this hedgehog was proving a little more difficult to say goodbye to. _

"_Well," he said finally, a small smile tugging at his mouth. He was mocking her, no doubt about it, but she didn't mind. _

"_If you get a break from your sightseeing," she blurted out after a moment, "Come and see me sometime. I gave you my address, right?" Her face was burning, all her words coming out a little too fast._

"_I have it," he said, producing the slip of paper covered with her writing. "And I will, soon."_

_Another pause, this one not so awkward._

"_So…I guess I'll see you around then," Amy said, all of a sudden feeling teary. _

"_Have a good trip home," Shadow answered. Just as she was thinking that she had wanted this goodbye to be a little less casual, he set down her suitcase and wrapped his arms around her._

"_And thank you," he said, his voice a little muffled against her quills, "For everything."_

_She looked up at him, unable to think of anything she could add to that. "You too. …I'll miss you, Shadow, very much."_

_He didn't say anything else, but the kiss he gave her seemed to speak volumes as it was. Funny, almost, how much she had dreamed of this moment with someone else, and yet her imagination had yielded nothing quite as nice as this. _

Amy shifts a little in her seat, breaking out of her reverie. She realizes she's been staring dreamily into space and smiling at nothing at all for the past few minutes, but the amused stares of those near her aren't embarrassing at all. She can see the skyline of Station Square in the distance and releases a happy sigh. She has returned home from adventures many times, of course, but this time with a sense of completion.

Twilight has descended by the time she exited the train station, and she breathes in the air blowing in from the sea, prepared to watch the stars gleaming over Emerald Coast until they have faded, wondering whether Shadow can see them from where he is, too.

_Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog. I'll see you again soon._

- FIN -

_So long, and thanks for all the reads! (Gotta love Douglas Adams…)_

_**Not An Elf**_


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